THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


BEQUEST  OF 

Alice  R.  Hilgard 


'     *      V 


Kapmoirtr  JF.  Wt&t  jjHemorial 

lectures  on  3"mmortalitp,  Ipuman 
Contmct,  anfc  |)ttman 


WHY  WE  MAY  BELIEVE  IN  LIFE  AFTER 
DEATH.  By  Charles  Edward  Jefferson. 
IQII. 

THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY.  By  Samuel 
McChord  Crothers.  1913. 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 


Bapmontt  JF.  Wt&t  ^Hemortai  Lectured 


THREE  LORDS  OF. 
DESTINY 

BY 

SAMUEL  McCHORD.CROTHERS 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

<C(e  ttitetffte  ^re^  Cambntrge 

1913 


COPYRIGHT,   1913,  BY  SAMUEL  MCCHORD  CROTHERS 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  November  IQIJ 


GIFT 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

THIS  volume  represents  the  second  of  the  se- 
ries of  Raymond  F.  West  Memorial  Lectures  at 
the  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University.  These 
lectures  were  delivered  on  April  22  and  23,  1913, 
by  Rev.  Samuel  McChord  Crothers,  D.D.,  of 
the  First  Unitarian  Church  of  Cambridge,  Mass- 
achusetts. The  conditions  of  the  lectureship  are 
set  forth  in  the  following  letter  from  its  founders  : 

In  memory  of  our  beloved  son,  Raymond 
Frederic  West,  a  student  in  Leland  Stanford 
Junior  University,  who  was  drowned  in  Eel 
River,  in  California,  on  January  18,  1906,  be- 
fore the  completion  of  his  college  course,  we  wish 
to  present  to  the  trustees  and  authorities  of  the 
Leland  Stanford  Junior  University,  at  Palo  Alto, 
California,  the  honored  Alma  Mater  of  our  son, 
the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars  ($10,000),  to  be 
held  as  a  fund  in  perpetual  trust,  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  lecturship  on  a  plan  similar  to  the 
V 


Cg 


52 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

Dudleian  Lectures  and  the  Ingersoll  Lectures  at 
Harvard  University. 

By  this  plan,  in  each  collegiate  year,  or  on  each 
alternate  year,  at  the  discretion  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  from  one  to  three  lectures  shall  be  given 
on  some  phase  of  this  subject:  "  Immortality, 
Human  Conduct,  and  Human  Destiny." 

Such  lectures  shall  not  form  a  part  of  the  usual 
college  or  university  course,  nor  shall  they  be  de- 
livered by  any  professor  or  instructor  in  active 
service  in  the  institution.  Such  lecturer  may  be 
a  clergyman  or  a  layman,  a  member  of  any  eccle- 
siastical organization,  or  of  none,  but  he  should 
be  a  man  of  the  highest  personal  character  and 
of  superior  intellectual  endowment.  He  shall  be 
chosen  by  the  Faculty  and  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  said  University  in  such  manner  as  the  Board  of 
Trustees  may  determine,  but  the  appointment 
in  any  case  shall  be  made  at  least  six  months  be- 
fore the  delivery  of  said  lectures. 

The  above  sum  is  to  be  safely  invested,  and  the 
interest  thereof  is  to  be  divided,  at  the  discretion 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  into  two  parts,  the  one 
an  honorarium  to  the  lecturer,  the  other  for  the 
publication  of  the  said  lectures  or  the  gratuitous 

vi 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

distribution  of  a  number  of  copies  of  the  same  if 
published  by  the  author. 

The  manuscript  of  the  course  of  lectures  shall 
become  the  property  of  the  University,  and  shall 
be  published  by  the  University  unless  some  other 
form  of  publication  is  more  acceptable. 

The  course  of  lectures  shall  be  known  as  the 
44  Raymond  F.  West  Memorial  Lectures  on  Im- 
mortality, Human  Conduct,  and  Human  Des- 
tiny." 

F.  W.  WEST, 
MARY  B.  WEST. 
SEATTLE,  WASH., 
January  18, 


CONTENTS 

I.  COURAGE * 

II.  SKILL" 47 

III.  LOVE •     •    •     •  93 


THREE  LORDS  OF 
DESTINY 

I 

COURAGE 

THE  significance  of  the  moral  life  is 
obscured  from  us  by  the  necessity  of 
early  teaching.  Right  conduct  is  so  uni- 
versally necessary  that  we  cannot  afford 
to  take  chances  with  our  children,  and 
wait  for  the  occasions  when  the  moral 
law  shall  flash  upon  them  through  "  the 
east  window  of  divine  surprise."  What 
have  been  the  thrilling  discoveries  of 
the  race  must  be  inculcated  in  the  form 
of  maxims  that  appear  commonplace. 
Lessons  which  repentant  sinners  have 
i 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

learned  through  the  agony  of  personal 
experience  are  transformed  into  habits 
of  well-regulated  childhood. 

The  consequence  is  that  when  the 
time  arrives  amid  the  tumult  of  youth, 
when  the  desire  for  self-expression  and 
self-direction  comes,  the  idea  of  moral- 
ity is  often  disassociated  from  the  idea 
of  personal  freedom.  Morality  is  looked 
upon  as  something  that  fetters  the  will, 
instead  of  being  the  way^by  which  the 
will  achieves  freedom.  It  is  regarded 
as  something  established  by  traditional 
authority  and  not  as  a  living  impulse. 
The  youth  eager  to  try  his  soul  knows 
no  other  way  than  through  rebellion 
against  the  didacticism  which  has  guided 
him  hitherto. 

Let  us  frankly  confess  that  though 
wiser  and  more  sympathetic  education 

2 


COURAGE 

may  mitigate  this  struggle,  yet  there  is 
a  difficulty  here  which  is  fundamental. 
Moral  teaching  must  of  necessity  be 
more  or  less  commonplace  in  form. 
Conduct  must  be  established  as  habit, 
before  its  reasons  or  its  importance  can 
be  appreciated.  And  there  must  come 
a  time  when  these  habits  are  criticized 
and  when  what  had  been  taken  for 
granted  is  questioned.  There  is  no  pain- 
less way  of  passing  from  the  discipline 
of  childhood  to  the  freedom  of  man- 
hood. 

But  it  is  all  the  more  necessary  when 
this  questioning  period  comes  that  prin- 
ciples of  Morality  and  Religion  should 
be  given  a  fair  chance  for  consideration. 
This  is  done  only  when  they  are  placed 
clearly  in  relation  to  the  age-long  strug- 
gle for  freedom. 

3 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

I  shall  ask  you,  therefore,  to  consider 
the  nature  of  the  moral  life,  not  so  much 
as  an  escape  from  sin,  as  an  escape  from 
bondage.  Indeed  sin,  from  this  stand- 
point, is  itself  a  kind  of  bondage.  It  is 
the  negation  of  what  the  New  Testa- 
ment calls  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 
sons  of  God.  There  is  a  point  of  view 
from  which  we  see  all  idealistic  im- 
pulses as  tending  in  one  direction.  Eth- 
ics, Religion,  Art,  Science,  Politics, 
Industry,  are  all  phases  of  one  great 
struggle  for  the  liberation  of  humanity. 
They  are  attempts  to  achieve  that  which 
no  creature  but  man  has  dreamed  of, 
and  which  every  fatalistic  philosophy 
declares  to  be  impossible. 

To  the  fatalist  earth  is  a  prison-house 
and  we  are  captives  condemned  to  life- 
imprisonment.  Knowledge  is  only  the 
A 


COURAGE 

knowledge  of  the  bars  across  our  win- 
dows, and  of  the  walls  against  which  we 
beat  ourselves  in  vain.  We  are  creatures 
taken  in  a  trap.  It  matters  not  how  we 
conceive  the  trapper,  whether  as  a  per- 
sonal or  an  impersonal  power.  The  only 
thing  certain  is  that  we  cannot  escape. 
We  have  ideals,  but  between  them  and 
reality  a  great  gulf  is  fixed.  We  love, 
we  aspire,  we  feel,  we  suffer,  but  we 
cannot  achieve.  These  emotions  of  ours 
have  poignancy  for  us,  but  no  potency 
to  change  our  destiny.  We  are  acted 
upon,  but  do  not  truly  act.  We  origi- 
nate nothing,  we  change  nothing.  Does 
the  grain  of  dust^blown  about  by  the 
wind  direct  itself?  No  more  do  we. 
The  raindrop  falling  from  the  cloud 
obeys  a  law  which  is  inexorable.  So  do 
we  yield  to  impulses  which  we  cannot 

5 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

comprehend  and  which  we  cannot  re- 
sist. When  we  think  we  resist,  it  is 
only  because  we  have  yielded  to  an- 
other power  which  for  the  moment  is 
stronger.  We  do  what  we  must.  Find 
at  any  moment  the  strongest  forces  and 
you  can  determine  what  we  must  at 
that  moment  do  and  be.  Could  a  wave 
of  the  sea  awake  to  consciousness  ere 
it  breaks,  it  would  have  as  much  right 
to  assert  its  freedom  of  motion  as  we. 

Self -consciousness  to  the  fatalist 
yields  no  important  truth.  To  say  "  I 
am  "  means  little  if  I  am  an  effect,  but 
in  no  sense  a  cause  of  anything. 

I  am  but  a  voice, 

My  life  is  but  a  life  of  winds  and  tides. 
No  more  tharrwinds  or  tides  can  I  avail. 

Human  history  from  this  standpoint 
has  only  the  same  kind  of  interest  that 

I 


COURAGE 

pertains  to  a  weather  report.  There  is 
no  room  in  it  for  praise  or  blame,  nor 
for  any  ordered  progress. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  argument 
for  fatalism  is  the  fascinating  but  dan- 
gerous argument  from  analogy.  The 
fatalist  deals  constantly  with  metaphors. 
He  talks  about  winds  and  tides,  about 
grains  of  dust  and  fading  flowers  and 
wind-swept  clouds.  All  nature  furnishes 
resemblances  to  the  life  of  man.  It  is 
easy  to  assume  identity.  As  the  tree 
falls,  so  it  lies.  The  fallen  tree  cannot, 
by  any  effort  of  its  own>  raise  itself.  In 
the  life  of  plants  and  animals  we  discern 
continuous  change,  but  what  creature 
is  able  to  direct  the  course  of  its  own 
evolution?  There  is  nothing  that  corre- 
sponds to  effective  choice.  The  machine 
moves,  but  not  by  its  own  will.  One 
7 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

part  depends  upon  another  part.  The 
machinery  does  not  repent,  nor  invent 
new  methods,  nor  does  it  discover  a  new 
object  for  itself.  What  is  our  brain  but 
a  more  complicated  and  delicate  ma- 
chine? Can  it  transcend  in  any  way  the 
limitations  of  mechanism  ? 

At  some  time  or  another  every  one 
must  face  the  fatalistic  conception  of 
life  and  hear  the  old  refrain  —  Vanity 
of  vanities,  all  is  vanity.  But  it  makes  a 
great  difference  whether  we  recognize 
this  as  a  kind  of  thought  from  which 
mankind  has  been  slowly  emerging,  or 
as  the  sad,  inevitable  conclusion^toward 
which  all  severe  thinking  tends. 

As  I  have  said,  the  necessary  process  of 

education  tends  here  to  confuse  us.  We 

begin  to  live  and  act  where  our  fathers 

left  off.  We  take  for  granted  what  they 

8 


COURAGE 

discovered.  Then,  when  we  begin  to 
think  for  ourselves,  we  retrace  their 
course,  and  rediscover  the  wilderness 
from  which  they  extricated  themselves. 
We  Occidentals  and  Christians  have 
been  taught  in  childhood  to  take  for 
granted  the  value  of  moral  effort.  We 
have  been  subjected  to  discipline  and 
have  unconsciously  enjoyed  its  fruits. 
Our  wills  have  been  stimulated  and  en- 
couraged. We  have  been  treated  as 
responsible  beings,  and  told  that  we  are 
the  makers  of  our  own  fortunes. 

Until  we  began  to  think  for  ourselves 
it  never  occurred  to  us  that  there  was 
anything  remarkable  in  such  teachings. 
They  seemed  like  self-evident  truths. 
But  when  these  ancestral  beliefs  are 
challenged,  we  are  at  a  loss  to  give  any 
answer  for  the  faith  that  is  not  so  much 

9 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

in  us  as  imposed  upon  us.  When  we 
come  upon  some  book  which  tells  of 
the  futility  of  effort  in  a  world  of  natu- 
ral law,  it  seems  as  if  we  had  come  upon 
a  new  discovery.  Now  we  have  reached 
that  maturity  of  thought  which  brings 
disillusion.  The  intellect  is  emancipated 
from  its  own  foolish  preconceptions. 
In  the  clear  cold  light  of  reason  the 
prisoner  sees  the  hard,  unyielding  walls 
that  shut  him  in. 

It  is  here  that  the  history  of  human 
development  is  helpful.  It  at  least  makes 
clear  the  direction  in  which  the  race 
has  been  moving.  The  fatalistic  doc- 
trine of  the  futility  of  human  effort  is  not 
a  new  discovery  reserved  for  clever 
young  people  of  our  day  when  they  be- 
gin to  philosophize.  It  is  the  most  prim- 
itive form  of  thought,  based  upon  what 
10 


COURAGE 

is  most  obvious  in  human  conditions. 
It  is  a  part  of  the  Natural  Theology 
which  Caliban  on  his  island  would 
evolve,  when  he  tried  to  explain  him- 
self and  it 

Of  course  man  seems  to  be  the  help- 
less creature  of  circumstances  which  are 
beyond  his  own  control.  All  circum- 
stances are  beyond  his  control.  That 
seems  evident  enough  at  the  first  com- 
prehensive glance  at  his  environment. 
Every  glimpse  which  we  have  of  the 
working  of  the  primitive  mind  reveals 
the  mingling  of  fear  and  apathy.  They 
both  arose  from  the  same  cause.  Fatal- 
ism was  not  a  mere  theory  but  a  prac- 
tical principle.  The  evils  that  were 
vaguely  seen  were  not  to  be  averted  by 
any  intelligent  and  sustained  effort. 
They  were  not  within  the  realm  of  hu- 
ii 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

man  responsibility.  They  came,  and  their 
coming  could  not  be  prevented.  At  first 
there  was  the  terrified  shrinkingand  then 
the  terrified  submission.  Caliban  fears 
Setebos  who  tortures  him,  but  above 
him  is  the  still  more  formidable  "quiet" 
that  shall  "catch  and  conquer  Setebos." 
Above  the  passions  of  angry  men  and 
angry  Gods  is  the  impassive  Fate,  against 
which  there  is  no  contending. 

The  great  significance  of  human  his- 
tory is  that  men  have  been  slowly 
emerging  from  this  fatalistic  habit  of 
mind.  The  doctrine  of  the  futility  of 
effort,  once  universal,  has  not  prevented 
effort  being  made.  And  that  portion  of 
mankind  which  has  made  the  most  de- 
termined and  continuous  effort  has  come 
to  believe  in  itself,  and  to  claim  the 
lordship  of  the  earth.  Out  of  the  accu- 
12 


COURAGE 

mulation  of  human  endeavors  there  has 
grown  a  great  human  faith,  which  char- 
acterizes the  progressive  portion  of  the 
race.  It  is  the  faith  which  we  have  in- 
herited and  whose  significance  we 
should  seek  to  understand. 

Milton  described  the  intellectual  quest 
of  his  [day  as  the  attempt  "  to  assert 
eternal  Providence  and  justify  the  ways 
of  God  to  man."  But  there  is  another 
task — or  perhaps  another  way  of  con- 
sidering the  same  task — [to  vindicate  the 
course  of  human  history  and  to  justify 
the  ways  of  man  unto  himself.  It  is  to 
this  aspect  of  the  high  argument  that  our 
age  particularly  addresses  itself. 

Are  human  ideals  mere  illusions,  and 
are  the  efforts  to  attain  them  of  any  sig- 
nificance? Is  personal  responsibility  a 
tremendous  fact  or  a  morbid  fancy  ?  Are 
13 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

we  partners  in  a  work  of  creation,  or  are 
we  accidental  results,  chance  products 
of  the  play  of  blind  forces  ?  What  should 
be  our  attitude  toward  the  world? 
Should  it  be  that  of  those  who  feel 
themselves  to  be  slaves,  or  that  of  those 
who,  however  weak  at  the  present,  are 
struggling  for  the  mastery? 
'  We  are  not  dealing  with  a  metaphys- 
ical theory,  but  are  choosing  a  way  of 
life.  What  is  the  wise  behavior  for  us  in 
a  world  such  as  this  ?  Shall  we  take  the 
world  at  its  face  value  and  yield  our- 
selves to  its  strongest  forces,  without 
further  question  ?  Is  the  highest  wisdom 
the  wisdom  of  submission  to  obvious 
facts?  Shall  we  be  content  to  move  in 
the  line  of  least  resistance,  without 
troubling  ourselves  to  ask  whither  we 
are  being  borne?  To  live  thus  would 
H 


COURAGE 

seem  to  be  to  live  in  accordance  with 
nature.  It  would  be  to  follow  the  analogy 
of  other  created  things.  We  are  copying 
the  behavior  of  our  Brother  Fire  and 
our  Sister  Water.  The  fire  burns,  the 
water  flows,  because  they  must  and  not 
because  they  will. 

Endless  have  been  the  experiments 
in  this  direction.  Sages  and  saints  med- 
itating upon  the  vanity  of  effort  have 
sought  to  return  to  calm  acquiescence  in 
the  order  of  nature.  They  have  tried  to 
still  desire,  to  banish  ambition,  and  to 
attain  to  a  state  in  which  they  would 
have  no  will  of  their  own.  They  would 
be  passive  in  the  hands  of  the  master  of 
their  fate.  "Doth  the  clay  say  to  the 
potter, '  Why  hastthou  made  me  thus  ? '" 
Why  should  the  human  clay  cherish  the 
ambition  to  remold  itself? 

15 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

But  here  appears  one  of  the  ironies  of 
life.  To  attain  to  this  effortless  calm  de- 
mands a  supreme  effort  of  the  will.  To  re- 
turn to  nature  demands  an  arduous  pro- 
cess of  reeducation.  Nature  must  first  be 
idealized  before  we  can  realize  it.  We 
must  painfully  unlearn  what  had  been 
natural  to  us.  How  painful  and  contin- 
uous is  the  discipline  through  which 
Oriental  mystics  seek  to  divest  them- 
selves of  the  sense  of  free  agency.  They 
have  to  keep  their  minds  upon  the  high 
task  of  not  thinking.  Any  lapse  of  atten- 
tion would  plunge  them  into  the  abyss 
of  ordinary  human  feeling.  St.  Simeon 
Stylites  stood  upon  his  pillar  to  show 
that  he  had  no  will  of  his  own.  What  an 
example  of  pure  willfulness  it  was! 
?•  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  as  difficult  to 
divest  one's  self  of  human  attributes,  as 
16 


COURAGE 

it  is  to  develop  these  attributes  into 
higher  forms.  The  higher  can  only  im- 
perfectly mimic  the  lower.  And  the 
mimicking  is  not  worth  the  pains.  A 
person  cannot  act  precisely  as  if  he 
were  a  thing.  There  is  something  that 
struggles  and  resists,  be  it  ever  so  feebly, 
i  Even  when  we  conceive  of  the  uni- 
verse and  of  ourselves  as  bound  by  inex- 
orable necessity,  we  yet  dream  of  free- 
dom. We  dream  of  a  life  of  our  own 
choosing  where  we  walk  confidently  on 
the  open  road.  The  free  wind  blows 
upon  us,  we  meet  companions  and  talk 
together.  And  when  the  evening  comes, 
we  lie  down  to  rest,  conscious  of  achieve- 
ment. We  have  accomplished  some- 
thing, we  are  further  on  toward  the  goal 
we  have  freely  chosen. 

And  in  our  dreams  we  are  creators. 
17 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

We  build  cities  and  temples,  we  carve 
marble,  we  paint  pictures,  all  in  obe- 
dience to  an  inner  impulse.  And  all  is 
more  beautiful  than  the  material  out  of 
which  it  is  made. 

As  long  as  we  are  content  to  enjoy 
the  dream  as  a  dream,  we  are  still  in 
bondage.  So  the  slave  dreams,  and 
awakes  to  his  misery.  We  are  free  only 
in  proportion  as  we  are  able  to  transform 
our  dreams  into  realities  —  in  other 
words  to  realize  our  ideals. 

What  is  the  first  decisive  step  in  the 
direction  of  spiritual  freedom?  What 
new  power  is  developed  in  us  that  lifts 
us  out  of  the  apathy  and  fear  of  fatalism  ? 

When  the  Christian  is  asked  the  ques- 
tion, he  answers,  "  It  is  Faith.  It  is  this 
that  overcomes  the  world,  and  makes 
us  free.  Is  it  not  written  'The  just  shall 
18 


COURAGE 

live  by  faith '?  "  And  if  the  Christian  is 
speaking  out  of  personal  experience  of 
a  new  kind  of  life,  and  so  entering  into 
the  spirit  of  the  New  Testament,  he  is 
uttering  a  deep  truth.  But  if  he  is  merely 
repeating  by  rote  a  lesson  which  he  has 
been  taught  by  others,  he  is  but  darken- 
ing counsel  by  words.  For  the  chances 
are  that  he  is  confused  by  the  ambiguity 
in  the  word  Faith.  Faith  may  be  con- 
ceived of  as  a  kind  of  courage  or  as  a 
kind  of  knowledge. 

In  the  great  texts  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  its  praise,  it  is  clearly  conceived 
of  as  a  kind  of  courage.  It  is  that  which 
conquers  the  fear  of  the  darkness.  It 
deals  boldly  and  aggressively  with  the 
uncertain.  It  lays  hold  of  what  is  con- 
fessedly unseen.  By  faith  Abraham  went 
out  from  his  father's  house,  not  know- 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

ing  whither  he  went.  By  faith  Moses 
preferred  the  sorrowful  uncertainties  of 
the  people  of  God  to  the  obvious  com- 
forts and  safety  of  the  Egyptian  Court. 
By  faith  men  chose  to  live  the  life  of 
pilgrims  and  strangers  because  they 
sought  a  better  country  than  they  had 
known.  Obeying  this  inner  impulse  they 
went  through  fire  and  flood  and  put  to 
flight  the  armies  of  aliens. 

This  is  evidently  not  knowledge,  but 
an  ability  to  act  in  advance  of  knowledge. 
It  is  the  willingness  to  take  huge  risks. 
The  men  who  put  to  flight  the  army  of 
aliens  were  men  who  did  not  flee  before 
the  aliens.  It  was  not  the  foreseen  victory 
but  the  invincible  courage  that  was 
praised.  Faith  is  an  act  of  sublime  audac- 
ity on  the  part  of  a  being  who  matches 
himself  against  powers  that  threaten  to 
20 


COURAGE 

overwhelm  him.  It  is  that  which  induces 
a  man  to  try  hazardous  experiments  in 
righteousness. 

But  the  great  word  may,  and  often 
does,  fall  into  a  weaker  use.  It  comes 
to  signify  not  the  power  which  dares, 
but  the  smug  assurance  of  one  who  in 
advance  of  the  conflict  has  information 
of  the  result.  The  battle  is  only  theatri- 
cal, the  victory  is  predetermined,  and 
all  the  means  leading  to  it  are  clearly  to 
be  seen.  Be  not  afraid,  because  there  is 
nothing  to  be  afraid  of. 

Now  that  definite  knowledge  that 
there  is  nothing  to  be  afraid  of  may  be 
very  comforting,  but  it  is  not  courage. 
It  js  rather  the  elimination  of  all  that 
makes  courage  necessary.  If  the  soldier 
knew  Beforehand  that  no  bullet  could 
harm  him,  he  would  face  the  enemy 
21 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

with  as  much  unconcern  as  at  the  car- 
nival he  would  face  a  shower  of  confetti. 
All  that  is  characteristic  in  the  soldier's 
sense  of  duty  disappears. 

To  vast  numbers  of  people  the  word 
faith  means  advance  knowledge,  super- 
naturally  communicated.  To  those  who 
feel  that  they  have  attained  it,  fear  dis- 
appears from  its  accustomed  haunts. 
But  it  still  prowls  around  in  the  out- 
skirts of  consciousness,  in  the  places 
that  yet  remain  dark.  It  is  apt  to  take  a 
new  form.  What  if  the  faith  itself  should 
waver?  Or  what  if  the  faith  one  holds 
should  prove  not  to  be  the  true  faith  ? 

The  identification  of  religious  faith 
with  advance  knowledge  has  another 
consequence.  It  prevents  multitudes 
of  persons  from  entering  joyously  and 
confidently  into  the  religious  life.  They 

22 


COURAGE 

are  waiting  for  a  miracle  that  does  not 
happen.  They  long  to  believe,  but 
they  cannot.  No  mysterious  light  flashes 
upon  the  future.  They  are  surrounded 
by  uncertainties.  Were  God  revealed  to 
them  by  unmistakable  signs,  they  would 
gladly  worship  him.  Were  indubitable 
truth  to  be  made  manifest,  they  would 
accept  it.  Were  a  voice  to  proclaim 
Duty  unmistakably,  they  would  in- 
stantly give  themselves  to  its  service. 
But  nothing  happens  as  they  had  been  led 
to  expect.  And  so  they  plod  on,  as  best 
they  may,  upon  the  common  way. 

To  such  it  may  be  a  help  to  lay  aside 
for  the  time  the  great  word  which 
has  a  double  meaning,  and  put  the 
emphasis  upon  the  word  whose  mean- 
ing is  unmistakable  —  Courage. 

When  we  appeal  to  courage  we  are 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

not  dependent  on  any  contingency  of 
knowledge.  We  do  not  state  an  opinion. 
We  do  not  prophesy  the  event.  We  do 
not  flatter,  we  do  not  make  promises,  we 
do  not  argue.  We  only  awaken  a  power 
—  it  is  the  power  to  endure  and  to  dare. 
What  that  power  shall  accomplish,  how 
far  it  shall  go,  we  know  not.  It  is 
enough  for  the  moment  that  it  responds 
to  the  call.  Before  the  formal  answer 
to  the  creed,  "I  believe,"  comes  the 
instinctive  answer  to  the  need  —  "I 
dare." 

Religion  and  Morality  are  in  their  be- 
ginnings acts  of  pure  courage.  They  are 
the  bold  assertion  of  a  creature  who  is 
determined  to  become  what  he  is  well 
aware  that  he  is  not.  We  talk  of  "timid 
piety."  But  that  is  only  an  afterthought. 
It  is  the  attitude  of  one  who  is  afraid 
24 


COURAGE 

that  he  may  lose  a  treasure  which  he 
once  possessed.  It  is  like  the  young  man 
who  went  away  very  sorrowful  because 
he  had  great  possessions,  which  he  was 
unwilling  to  put  in  jeopardy.  But  piety 
in  the  making  is  not  timid  but  bold  with 
the  audacity  of  conscious  poverty  un- 
der the  spur  of  necessity.  It  is  not  a 
treasure.  It  is  a  treasure-seeker,  with 
nothing  to  lose  and  all  to  gain. 

Here  we  see  the  explanation  of  that 
which  often  seems  paradoxical  in  reli- 
gious experience.  "  Blessed  are  the  poor 
in  spirit,"  they  are  the  most  high- 
spirited  in  the  quest  for  perfection,  and 
go'iurthest.  The  consciousness  of  their 
utter  poverty  sets  them  free  from  pru- 
dential considerations  which  hold  others 
back.  Those  who  are  passing  through  a 
great  spiritual  crisis  are  apt  to  speak 
25 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

scornfully  of  what  they  call  "mere  mor- 
ality." 

The  morality  which  they  scorn  is 
that  which  is  conventional.  It  now 
seems  of  little  worth,  compared  with 
what  they  would  obtain.  Theirs  is  the 
spirit  of  the  leader  of  a  forlorn  hope, 
who  flings  away  all  that  he  has  on  a 
glorious  venture. 

The  prophet  says  of  the  righteous 
servant  of  Jehovah,  "  He  was  numbered 
among  the  transgressors."  All  that  is 
inspiring  in  the  history  of  mankind  has 
to  do  with  these  glorious  transgressors, 
who  were  willing  to  defy  power  that 
seemed  irresistible. 

The  arguments  of  tyrants  have  always 

been  simple.  "Remain  where  we  have 

placed  you,  and  we  shall  protect  you. 

Under  our  watchful  guardianship  you 

26 


COURAGE 

shall  be  safe.  Resist  and  you  shall  suf- 
fer, and  as  the  last  resort  we  may  kill 
you." 

The  slave  submits,  content  with  ig- 
noble safety.  When  the  impulse  of  free- 
dom comes,  there  is  defiance.  "  I  will 
follow  what  seems  to  me  the  better 
course,  come  what  may." 

The  whole  significance  of  the  choice 
lies  in  the  fact  that  the  man  who 
makes  it  does  not  know  what  may 
come.  The  issue  of  the  strife  is  uncer- 
tain, but  nevertheless  he  enters  upon 
it  gladly.  When  word  came  to  Nehe- 
miah  that  his  enemies  were  about  to  at- 
tack him  and  he  was  urged  to  flee  into  the 
temple,  he  answered:  "Should  such  a 
man  as  I  flee  ?  And  who  is  there  that 
being  as  I  am  would  go  into  the  temple 
to  save  his  life  ?  I  will  not  go  in." 
27 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

Here  the  outward  fact  was  confronted 
with  the  inner  fact.  The  outer  reality 
was  Danger,  the  inner  was  Courage. 
They  confronted  one  another,  and  the 
inner  reality  stood  firm. 

When  such  a  conflict  takes  place, 
how  shall  the  victory  be  determined? 
In  this  case  Nehemiah  stood  his  ground 
and  his  enemies  did  not  destroy  him. 
We  say  that  he  triumphed  through  his 
act  of  courage.  But  suppose  they*had 
come  upon  him  and  killed  him  at  his 
post  of  duty.  Still  the  judgment  of  man- 
kind would  crown  him  victor.  Such  a 
man  as  he  was  in  his  life,  such  he  was 
in  death.  In  his  steadfastness  he  had 
gained  the  undefiled  rewards.  True  to 
himself  he  had  not  yielded  to  a  threat. 

Entering  as'we  do  into  the  heritage  of 
generations  of  valiant  souls,  we  do  not 
28 


COURAGE 

realize  that  everything  which  we  call 
a  virtue  was  at  one  time  a  perilous  ad- 
venture in  righteousness,  and  that  our 
commonest  duties  were  once  acts  pro- 
hibited, which  only  the  boldest  spirits 
dared  attempt.  Our  simplest  faith  be- 
longs to  the  way  men  called  heresy. 

One  may  enter  a  modern  church 
and  see  in  it  but  an  institution  devoted 
to  the  defence  of  the  established  order. 
The  faces  of  the  worshipers  indicate 
prosperity  rather  than  eager  aspiration. 
Then  come  the  thrilling  words  of  the 
Te  Deum  : 

"The  glorious  company  of  the  Apos- 
tles praise  thee. 

"  The  goodly  fellowship  of  the  proph- 
ets praise  thee. 

"  The  noble  army  of  martyrs  praise 
thee." 

29 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

Amid  the  respectabilities  and  the 
orthodoxies  and  the  moral  mediocrities, 
to  which  the  church-goers  had  been 
accustomed,  there  come  the  brave  be- 
ginners, non-conformists  all.  They  were 
men  who  would  not  be  conformed  to 
the  world,  even  to  the  religious  world 
of  their  time.  They  attempted  to  trans- 
form it,  by  the  renewing  of  their 
minds. 

The  Apostles  were  men  who  chose 
the  hard  task  instead  of  the  easy  one. 
They  left  friends  and  comrades  to  carry 
a  message  to  men  who  were  not  willing 
to  receive  it.  The  Prophets  were  men 
with  an  unusual  zeal  for  righteousness. 
They  were  not  satisfied  with  the  stand- 
ards of  their  community.  Lonely  and 
friendless,  they  yet  kept  their  chosen 
path  unfalteringly.  We  hear  from  the 
30 


COURAGE 

prophet  the  outcry  of  pain,  but  it  is  a 
pain  that  never  swerves  him  from  his 
course.  "  Woe  is  me  for  my  hurt,  for 
it  is  grievous.  But  I  said,  truly  this  is 
grief,  and  I  must  bear  it."  And  the 
Martyrs,  who  were  they?  — Literally 
witnesses,  men,  with  an  unusual  sense 
of  veracity.  No  threat  or  torture  could 
induce  them  to  swerve  in  their  testi- 
mony. They  could  die,  but  they  could 
not  deny  the  truth  they  saw. 

Truly  a  glorious  company!  a  goodly 
fellowship!  a  noble  army! 

We  do  not  understand  the  language 
of  religion  if  we  interpret  it  by  the  spirit 
of  those  who  merely  acquiesce  in  dogmas 
which  have  been  presented  to  them.  We 
must  go  directly  to  the  men  who  have 
dared  —  the  prophets,  apostles  and  mar- 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

tyrs  of  every  age.  Let  us  try  to  under- 
stand their  attitude. 

Let  us  define  the  great  words  of  reli- 
gion in  terms  of  pure  courage. 

Repentance.  This  is  a  declaration  of 
independence,  an  act  of  defiance.  A 
man  looks  upon  his  past  acts  and  on  his 
present  condition  and  sees  them  to  be 
full  of  sin  and  shame.  He  loathes  them, 
but  he  at  first  sees  no  way  of  escape  from 
them.  Habit  holds  him.  Reason  seems  to 
say  that  it  is  inevitable  that  he  should  re- 
main as  he  is.  He  has  made  his  bed,  he 
must  lie  upon  it.  He  cannot  escape  from 
the  consequences  of  his  own  deeds. 
They  are  his  destiny. 

Then  comes  a  sudden  access  of  cour- 
age. He  no  longer  seeks  to  escape.  The 
consequences  fof  his  deeds  remain  and 
must  meet  him  again.  So  be  it.  But 
32 


COURAGE 

when  they  meet  him  again  they  shall 
not  find  in  him  a  cowering  slave.  He 
will  confront  them  like  a  man.  It  is  not 
the  circumstances  that  have  changed, 
but  he  has  changed.  He  will  live,  not  as 
if  the  things  he  had  done  had  never 
happened.  They  have  happened.  Now 
they  are  a  part  of  the  evil  that  is  to  be 
overcome.  He  no  longer  apologizes, 
or  excuses.  He  has  given  up  his  old  self 
and  is  deliberately  building  up  a  new 
character. 

Can  he  do  it?  The  wise  and  prudent 
say,  No.  He  is  battling  against  fate.  He 
is  defying  the  laws  of  nature,  of  his  own 
nature.  Even  the  prophet  of  righteous- 
ness is,  at  times,  skeptical  as  to  the  re- 
sult. "Can  the  Ethiopian  change  his 
skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots  ?  Then  may 
ye  also  do  good  that  are  accustomed  to 
33 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

do  evil."  Against  the  influence  of  hered- 
ity and  habit  who  can  contend  ? 

But  the  contest  goes  on.  It  is  the 
thrilling  story  of  brave  souls  that  have 
grappled  with  the  evil  in  their  own  na- 
tures, and  begun  life  anew. 

Forgiveness.  This  is  rebellion  against 
the  tyranny  of  our  own  prejudices.  We 
had  sat  in  judgment  upon  others.  We 
had  identified  the  sinner  with  his  sin. 
Our  idea  of  rectitude  had  hardened  into 
fixed  forms.  Certain  persons  had  become 
to  us  symbols  of  unrighteousness.  To 
hate  them  was  the  outward  and  visible 
sign  of  our  inner  grace.  The  moral  law 
had  itself  become  fatalistic.  Its  very  ex- 
istence seemed  to  depend  upon  the  in- 
variable relation  between  sin  and  its 
penalties.  To  pardon  was  to  be  disloyal 
to  its  stern  requirements. 
34 


COURAGE 

Then  comes  the  revolutionary  idea  of 
forgiveness.  To  a  person  of  ethical 
temper  and  training  it  demands  the 
highest  kind  of  courage.  "  Who  art  thou 
that  forgivest  sins  ?  " 

Shelley  makes  the  Furies  looking 
down  on  the  ineffective  efforts  of  well- 
meaning  people  cry  tauntingly,  — 

They  dare  not  devise  good  for  man's  estate 
And  yet  they  know  that  they  do  not  dare. 

What  they  do  not  dare  do  is  fully  to 
trust  their  fellow-men.  The  memory  of 
old  sins  prevents  confidence  in  new 
endeavors. 

But  now  and  then  there  comes  one 
who  has  the  courage  of  forgiveness.  His 
conception  of  the  moral  law  is  purged 
of  fatalism.  It  is  the  perfect  law  of 
liberty.  It  means  the  call  to  every  one 

35 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

to  do  the  very  best  he  can,  under  the 
circumstances  in  which  he  finds  himself. 
All  men  are  equal  under  this  law.  He 
is  careless  of  conventional  distinctions 
between  saints  and  sinners.  The  past  is 
seen  to  be  past,  and  he  sees  his  fellow- 
men,  acting  under  the  stress  of  present 
necessities.  His  judgments  are  not  re- 
trospective, but  have  to  do  with  living 
issues.  To  him  repentant  sinners  come, 
sure  that  he  will  see  them  not  as  they 
were  but  as  they  are.  He  judges  not 
after  appearance  but  judges  righteous 
judgments.  The  appearances  are  the 
survivals  of  the  past;  but  he  is  quick  to 
discern  the  latent  good  that  doth  not  yet 
appear. 

He  only  has  achieved  freedom  who 
dares  to  challenge  the  conventional 
judgments.  He  dares  conceive  of  new 

36 


COURAGE 

forms  of  righteousness,  a  righteousness 
that  "exceeds  the  righteousness  of 
scribes  and  pharisees."  He  is  a  bold 
explorer  who  discovers  virtues  in  un- 
expected places.  His  conscience  moves 
as  freely  among  the  acts  and  motives 
of  men,  as  the  imagination  of  the  artist 
moves  among  the  elements  of  beauty. 
And  like  the  imagination  of  the  artist 
it  is  selective  and  creative.  Out  of  im- 
perfect human  nature  it  selects  what  is 
most  precious  and  creates  new  forms 
of  spiritual  excellence. 

Renunciation.  All  philosophies  and 
religions  have  emphasized  renunciation. 
But  it  makes  a  great  difference  whether 
the  word  is  interpreted  as  an  act  of 
spiritual  courage  or  as  a  yielding  to  im- 
perious necessity.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  when  we  speak  of  self-denial  or 
37 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

self-sacrifice  the  fatalistic  feeling  is  sug- 
gested to  most  minds.  In  this  world,  it 
is  thought,  the  best  is  beyond  our  reach, 
we  must  learn  to  give  up  the  vain  de- 
sire for  it  and  to  content  ourselves  with 
the  second  best.  But  this  is  to  beg  the 
whole  question.  The  assertion  of  those 
who  live  the  life  of  the  spirit  is  that  the 
life  they  have  chosen  is  in  reality  the 
higher  life.  It  is  the  kind  of  life  that  in 
itself  yields  the  most  lasting  satisfactions. 
The  choice  is  a  real  one  only  when  this  is 
believed.  When  St.  Francis  talked  with 
Brother  Leo  about  perfect  bliss,  he  was 
not  counseling  resignation,  he  was 
arousing  spiritual  ambition.  To  him  the 
life  of  lowly  service  was  enticing.  He 
would  have  his  disciple  feel  its  charm. 
There  have  always  been  persons  who 
really  believed  in  the  Beatitudes.  They 

38 


COURAGE 

have  preferred  to  be  blessed  rather  than 
to  be  comfortable.  Even  the  most  big- 
oted man  of  the  world  must  admit  that 
there  are  persons  who  do  not  share  his 
aims.  These  headstrong  people  must  be 
allowed  to  go  on  their  own  way.  If  they 
give  up  what  to  him  is  of  most  value,  he 
should  do  them  the  credit  to  believe 
that  it  is  in  exchange  for  something  they 
care  for  more.  When  they  voluntarily 
lose  the  whole  world,  it  is  because  they 
put  an  extraordinary  value  upon  their 
own  souls. 

It  is  not  the  fact  of  giving  up  some- 
thing that  is  important.  The  important 
thing  is  the  reason.  There  are  strategi- 
cal moves  to  be  considered. 

The  commander  of  a  fortress  may 
evacuate  it  in  the  face  of  the  enemy. 
He  is  no  longer  able  to  maintain  himself 

39 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

in  it,  and  he'retires  before  overwhelm- 
ing force.  He  gives  up  something'under 
compulsion.  But  on  the  other  hand  he 
may  march  out  of  the  fortress,  in  order 
to  meet  the  enemy.  He  leaves  the  se- 
curity of  the  walls  in  order  to  force  an 
engagement.  This  movement  is  not 
compelled  by  fear,  but  impelled  by 
courage.  He  leaves  the  strong  position, 
because  he  trusts  in  the  strength  of 
his  own  army. 

In  war  two  generals  of  equal  intellect- 
ual ability  and  equally  versed  in  military 
science  may  confront  each  other.  In 
only  one  respect  do  they  differ,  in  the 
amount  and  quality  of  their  courage. 
This  temperamental  difference  is  deci- 
sive. It  influences  their  strategy  and 
determines  their  action  at  every  point. 
All  the  intellectual  processes  are  influ- 
40 


COURAGE 

enced  by  the  ultimate  object.  One 
commander  uses  all  his  skill  to  save 
himselFand  his  army.  He  is  full  of  ex- 
pedients by  which  to  extricate  himself 
from  places  of  difficulty  and  danger.  To 
the  other,  himself  and  his  army  are  only 
instruments  tobeusedf  or  a  purpose.  He 
is  not  thinking  about  them  but  about 
what  he  can  do  with  them.  He  is  ever 
seeking  the  decisive  moment  when 
everything  is  to  be  risked  in  one  mighty 
effort 

The  same  difference  exists  among 
men  of  religion.  One  man  conceives  of 
religion  as  the  higher  prudence.  All  its 
problems  are  prudential.  How  may  I 
with  the  least  waste  of  time  in  individ- 
ual thinking,  and  the  least  spiritual  anx- 
iety, attain  to  a  comfortable  certainty? 
How  may  I  escape  from  the  conse- 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

quences  of  my  own  mistakes  and  sins? 
How  may  I  extricate  myself  from  com- 
plex social  relationships  which  disturb 
my  peace  of  mind?  How  shall  I  enjoy 
the  rewards  of  righteousness  without  be- 
ing burdened  by  its  anxieties  ?  How  can 
I  be  assured  that  my  good  deeds  shall 
be  rewarded  and  my  prayers  answered 
according  to  my  notion  of  what  is  fit- 
ting? 

It  will  be  noticed  that  all  these  are  of 
the  nature  of  demands  upon  a  power 
outside  of  us,  but  that  there  is  no  demand 
upon  a  power  working  in  us  and  through 
us.  They  are  the  problems  of  religion 
that  might  be  formulated  by  sluggards 
and  cowards. 

Do  not  expect  when  you  turn  to 
the  glorious  company  of  Apostles,  the 
goodly  fellowship  of  Prophets,  and  the 
42 


COURAGE 

noble  army  of  Martyrs,  to  find  the  solu- 
tion of  such  problems.  The  problems  are 
not  even  propounded.  "The  beggar  self 
forgets  to  ask." 

Sorrow,  misunderstanding,  uncer- 
tainty, death,  these  are  not  explained 
away.  They  are  unescapable  realities  in 
the  world  we  live  in.  But  they  are  not 
the  supreme  realities.  They  are  not  our 
masters  and  shall  not  be  allowed  to  keep 
us  from  our  chosen  way/  We  will  not 
yield  to  our  inferiors.  The  spiritual  na- 
ture of  man  asserts  itself.  And  in  that 
self-assertion  is  freedom. 

Worship.  The  nature  of  worship  is 
obscured  by  our  familiarity  with  its 
forms.  In  its  essence  it  is  an  act  of 
spiritual  daring.  It  is  an  attitude  of  the 
soul  ^toward  that  which  is  perfect,  but 
it  differs  from  the  attitude  of  artistic 
43 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

appreciation,  or  even  of  moral  approba- 
tion. It  is  the  recognition  of  a  perfec- 
tion that  is  so  far  above  that  it  seems  to 
belong  to  another  world.  But  into  that 
other  world  the  worshiper  ventures. 

Isaiah  gives  us  a  picture  of  worship 
in  his  vision  which  came  "in  the  year 
that  King  Uzziah  died."  He  saw  "the 
Lord  sitting  upon  a  throne  high  and 
lifted  up,  and  his  train  filled  the  heaven." 
He  heard  the  voices  that  cried  one  to 
another,  "  Holy,  holy,  [holy  is  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  the]  whole  eartfr  is  full  of  his 
glory."  At  first  the  vision  of  a  per- 
fection he  could  not  attain  to  over- 
whelmed him  and  he  cried,  "Woe  is 
me  I  for  I  am  undone,  because  I  am  a 
man  of  unclean  lips  and  I  dwell  in  the 
midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips."  Then 
a  coal  from  the  altar  touched  his  lips, 

44 


COURAGE 

and  there  came  the  sudden  access  of 
spiritual  courage.  He  forgot  the  dis- 
tance between  himself  and  the  splendor 
that  enthralled  him.  The  call  to  high 
service  was  accepted  before  he  had  time 
to  assure  himself  of  his  fitness.  "  Here 
am  I,  send  me." 

Worship  comes  before  knowledge 
and  before  fitness.  They  do  not  know 
the  working  of  the  human  soul  who 
think  of  adoration  as  the  posture  only 
of  saints.  The  beatific  vision  comes  to 
multitudes  yet  in  their  sins.  They  rev- 
erence that  which  they  do  not  compre- 
hend. And  that  life  is  meager  indeed 
which  does  not  recognize,  at  least  in 
moments,  the  glory  touching  the  far 
horizons.  By-and-by  it  may  become  the 
light  of  common  day.  Now  it  is  some- 
thing to  be  wondered  at. 
45 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

To  one  who  has  felt  himself  to  be  a 
prisoner  of  Fate  the  liberating  moment 
comes,  when  he  turns  from  the  uncertain- 
ties of  the  outward  world  to  something 
which  heTdiscovers  within  himself.  He 
feels  a  spiritual  impulse  and  dares  to 
trust  it.  In  that  new-born  confidence 
there  is  disenthrallment.  He  has  seen  a 
great  light;  he  resolves  to  follow  it. 
Whither  it  will  lead  him  he,  as  yet, 
knows  not.  He  will  take  the  risks.  In 
that  choice  is  his  first  experience  of 
freedom. 


II 

SKILL 

WE  have  considered  the  significance 
of  courage  in  the  human  struggle  for  free- 
dom. The  emergence  of  the  hero  marks 
the  first  victory  over  a  gloomy  fatalism. 
The  hero  declares  no  doctrine  about 
the  Universe,  but  he  asserts  himself. 
What  I  am,  I  am.  What  may  happen 
to  him  is  a  matter  which  for  the  mo- 
ment may  be  treated  as  irrelevant.  Let 
worst  come  to  worst,  he  will  be  loyal 
to  his  own  vision  of  the  best. 

The  charm  of  all  hero  stories  is  that 
we  are  not  concerned  as  to  how  they 
come  out.  Character  is  seen  to  be  in- 
trinsically more  important  than  circum- 
stance. Even^the  tragedy  "comes  out 
47 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

well,"  if  the  heroic   spirit  is  manifest 
unto  the  end.  Samson  lies  buried  under 
the  ruins  of  the  temple  he  has  thrown 
down.   But  "  Samson  hath  quit  himself 
like  Samson."  That  is  enough. 
Nothing  is  here  for  tears,  nothing  to  wail 
Or  knock  the  breast,  no  weakness,  no  contempt, 
Dispraise  or  blame,  nothing  but  well  and  fair 
And  what  may  quiet  us  in  a  death  so  noble. 

The  characteristic  thing  about  cour- 
age is  that  it  is  complete  in  itself,  and 
is  dependent  on  no  circumstance  what- 
ever. The  battlefield    is   in  the  man's 
own  nature.    When  he  has  overcome 
fear,  the  victory  is  won.  He  has  gained 
the  undefiled  rewards. 
To  suffer  woes  which  Hope  thinks  infinite, 
To  forgive  wrongs  darker  than  death  or  night, 

To  defy  Power  which  seems  omnipotent 

To  love  and  bear ;  to  hope  till  Hope  creates 

From  its  own  wreck  the  thing  it  contemplates, 
•         •••••••• 

48 


SKILL 

This  like  thy  glory  Titan  is  to  be 

Good,  great  and  joyous,  beautiful  and  free ; 

This  is  alone  Life,  Joy,  Empire  and  Victory. 

Not  only  does  the  courageous  spirit 
determine  its  own  course  without  re- 
gard to  the  threats  of  opposing  power, 
but  it  chooses  its  own  course  of  conduct 
without  waiting  for  sympathy.  Matthew 
Arnold,  in  a  little  poem  called  "  Reli- 
gious Isolation,"  compares  those  who 
do  not  trust  their  spiritual  intuitions 
until  they  have  been  confirmed  by  ar- 
guments drawn  from  Nature  to  children 
who  are  "  too  fearful  or  too  fond  to  play 
alone."  We  must  learn  to  walk  without 
external  supports. 

What  though   the   holy  secret,  which  moulds 

thee, 

Moulds  not  the  solid  earth?  though  never  winds 
Have  whisper'd  it  to  the  complaining  sea, 

49 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

Nature's  great  law,  and  law  of  all  men's  minds? 
To  its  own  impulse  every  creature  stirs ; 
Live  by  thy  light,  and  earth  will  live  by  hers  I 

This  sense  of  isolation  is  necessary  to 
one  who  would  know  the  nature  of 
goodness.  The  biologist  in  the  labora- 
tory isolates  the  ^germ  which  he  would 
study.  He  must  see  it  as  it  is,  without 
confusing  it  with  anything  else.  Only 
thus  can  he  determine  whether  its  be- 
havior is  harmful  or  beneficent.  So  the 
things  of  the  spirit  must  be  distin- 
guished from  their  material  environ- 
ment. They  must  be  "  spiritually  dis- 
cerned." As  parts  of  the  interior  life 
they  must  be  differentiated  from  every 
influence  external  to  themselves. 

My  mind  to  me  a  kingdom  is. 

This  kingdom  must  preserve  its  inde- 
50 


SKILL 

penclence.  Its  borders  must  be  jeal- 
ously defended  against  all  invasion.  * 

When  we  use  the  term  disinterested 
virtue,  we  simply  mean  that  we  are 
talking  about  virtue,  and  not  about 
something  else  which  may  easily  be 
mistaken  for  it.  We  are  fixing  our 
minds  upon  a  motive  for  conduct.  The 
virtuous  motive  is  something  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  hope  of  reward  or  the 
fear  of  punishment.  We  are  anxious  to 
make  clear  what  that  motive  precisely 
is.  This  is  done  when  the  choice  brings 
pain  rather  than  pleasure.  This  choice 
demands  pure  courage. 

But  though  Courage  is  the  first  great 
liberator  from  fatalistic  slavery,  it  is  not 
the  only  one.  When  the  choice  of  ideal 
good  has  been  bravely  made,  another 
step  must  be  taken.  The  emancipated 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

soul  is  not  content  simply  to  fight  its 
old  battles  over  again.  It  would  use  its 
independence  in  seeking  larger  fields 
of  service.  It  is  not  enough  to  be  good, 
it  would  do  good.  After  the  realization 
of  moral  freedom  conies  the  desire  for 
efficiency. 

Let  us  consider  the  next  phase  of  the 
struggle  against  Fatalism.  It  involves  a 
new  outlook  upon  the  world,  and  a  new 
method,  Courage,  wins  the  sense  of  per- 
sonal independence.  The  soul  is  freed 
from  the  inhibitions  of  fear.  It  dares  to 
obey  its  own  higher  impulses.  It  no 
longer  consents  to  be  molded  by  its . 
environment.  But  a  new  liberator  ap- 
pears —  it  is  Skill.  Skill  accomplishes 
what  Courage  only  proposes.  It  creates 
a  new  environment.  It  is  the  mind 

5* 


SKILL 

working  upon  the  materials  provided 
for  it  in  the  actual  world.  As  men  learn 
to  work  skillfully,  they  come  to  have 
an  altogether  different  mental  attitude. 
They  literally  "work  out  their  own  sal- 
vation "  from  many  evils  which  before 
had  seemed  irremediable. 

Dean  Stanley  in  a  vivid  chapter  in  his 
book  on  Christian  Institutions  tells  of  the 
origin  of  the  Litany.  It  came  at  the  time 
when  the  Roman  Empire  was  tottering 
to  its  fall.  In  France  there  had  been  terri- 
fic social  convulsions  and  with  them  a 
succession  of  droughts,  pestilences,  and 
earthquakes.  Horror  was  piled  on  hor- 
ror. "On  one  of  these  occasions,  when 
the  people  had  been  hoping  that  with 
the  Easter  festival  some  respite  would 
come,  a  sudden  earthquake  shook  the 

53 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

Church  at  Vienna  on  the  Rhone.  It  was 
on  Easter  eve;  the  congregation  rushed 
out;  the  bishop  of  the  city  was  left 
alone  before  the  altar.  On  that  terrible 
night  he  formed  the  resolution  of  invent- 
ing a  new  form,  as  he  hoped,  of  draw- 
ing down  the  mercy  of  God."  Out 
of  the  conscious  helplessness  before 
the  awful  powers  of  Nature,  came 
the  Litany,  with  its  prayers  for  help 
against  "the  lightning  and  tempest," 
the  "plague,  pestilence  and  famine," 
the  "battle  and  murder  and  sudden 
death." 

Famine,  pestilence,  lightning  and 
tempest,  battle  and  murder  and  sudden 
death  still  exist.  Indeed,  the  catalogue 
of  human  ills  has  been  lengthened 
owing  to  increasing  sensitiveness  and 
quickened  sympathy.  But  the  attitude 

54 


SKILL 

of  the  modern  man  is  different  from  that 
of  the  excited  multitudes  of  mediaeval 
peasants  who  followed  each  other  over 
hill  and  valley,  crying,  "Lord,  have 
mercy  upon  us." 

Instead  of  the  penitential  processions 
you  find  men  armed  with  instruments 
of  precision  studying  the  evils  that  are 
presented  as  so  many  problems  to  be 
solved. 

We  enter  the  laboratory  and  watch 
the  careful  processes  by  which  the  pes- 
tilence is  robbed  of  its  terrors.  It  is  no 
longer  the  "  pestilence  that  walketh  in 
darkness."  A  searching  light  j^has  been 
thrown  upon  it.  The  death-dealer  is  re- 
vealed as  itself  a  form  of  life.  It  is  a 
specific  germ  whose  life-history  can  be 
determined,  and  habits  known.  The  cool 
students  learn  how  it  is  produced,  how 

55 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

it  thrives,  on  what  food  it  is  dependent, 
and  how  it  reproduces  itself.  Its  life- 
history  once  known,  plans'are  made  for 
its  control  or  its  destruction.  All  this 
is  unemotional.  There  is  no  guess- 
work about  it.  Each  process  is  carefully 
tested.  Vague  fears  are  not  allowed  to 
disturb  the  impartial  poise  of  the  inves- 
tigator. 

Famine  is  no  longer  personified.  It  is 
not  a  meager  ghost  that  clutches  its  vic- 
tims. It  is  an  economic  blunder,  that  in- 
dicates a  low  stage  of  civilization.  It  is 
an  indication  of  unjustifiable  waste.  Go 
to  any  of  our  great  universities,  and  you 
will  see  why  it  is  that  life  has  been  di- 
vested of  one  of  its  terrors.  The  human 
intellect  is  not  merely  considering  its 
own  needs,  but  it  is  providing  also  for 
the  needs  of  the  body.  Chemists,  biolo- 

56 


SKILL 

gists,  physiologists,  engineers,  political 
economists,  are  collaborating  in  one 
great  utilitarian  work.  They  are  con- 
cerned with  the  food-supply.  They  are 
carefully  working  out  the  problems  of 
its  production  and  distribution.  This 
knowledge  once  obtained,  great  armies 
of  teachers  are  engaged  to  make  it  avail- 
able to  the  people. 

The  earthquake  and  tempest  have  not 
been  eliminated.  But  even  in  the  pres- 
ence of  their  terrible  destruction,  we 
are  aware  that  the  attitude  of  the  modern 
man  is  different  from  that  of  his  prede- 
cessors. In  San  Francisco  the  earth- 
quake was  looked  upon  as  an  incident 
that  must  be  taken  into  account  by  fu- 
ture city-builders.  It  revealed  weak 
points  in  civic  engineering.  Architects 
must  study  how  to  make  their  buildings 

57 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

secure  against  such  tremors  of  the  earth 
as  may  come  at  long  intervals. 

In  regard  to  war,  a  calamity  of  our 
own  making,  the  attitude  of  our  age  is, 
curiously  enough,  more  fatalistic  than 
in  regard  to  the  destructive  outbursts  of 
Nature's  forces.  But  even  here  intellec- 
tual curiosity  is  making  itself  felt.  In 
the  Peace  Congresses  there  is  apt  to  be 
less  appeal  to^vague  humanitarian  sen- 
timent, and  more  use  of  cool  reason. 
Let  us  investigate  the  real  causes  of 
war.  Let  us  isolate  the  bacillus  of  mili- 
tarism, and  see  if  it  is  really  immortal 
as  so  many  worldly-wise  people  imagine. 
Cool,  businesslike  discussions  are  going 
on  as  to  ways  and  means  for  lessening 
the  enormous  waste  of  life  and  treasure 
that  has  hitherto  been  supposed  to  be 
unavoidable.  This  indicates  that  the 


SKILL 

peacemaker  is  learning  to  go  about  his 
work  in  a  matter-of-fact  way.  He  is 
considering  not  only  the  value  of  his 
product,  but  the  most  economical  way  of 
producing  it.  He  is  looking  for  results. 

What  then  becomes  of  the  Litany 
with  its  "  Good  Lord,  deliver  us "  ? 
When  science  and  skill  are  enlisted  in 
the  work  of  deliverance  from  earthly 
evils,  does  religion  cease  to  be  a  neces- 
sity? As  men  become  self-reliant,  do 
the  old  pieties,  which  once  were  so 
beautiful,  vanish  ? 

There  are  those  who  thus  interpret 
the  intellectual  development  of  hu- 
manity. To  them,'every  increase  in  skill 
is  a  step  away  from  religion,  and  from 
the  old  courageous  faith  of  prophets  and 
saints.  It  is  even  a  step  away  from  confi- 
dence in  the  moral  law.  Is  not  that  also 
59 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

an  object  of  intellectual  curiosity,  rather 
than  of  devout  feeling? 

In  such  an  interpretation  it  seems  to 
me  that  they  mistake  the  whole  signifi- 
cance of  skill.  Skill  does  not  have  to  do 
with  the  ends  but  with  the  means.  The 
difference  between  the  skilled  and  the 
unskilled  laborer  lies  not  in  the  thing 
they  are  trying  to  do,  but  in  their  relative 
ability  to  do  it.  A  certain  difficult  piece 
of  work  is  proposed  to  them  both.  They 
are  equally  well-meaning  and  clear  in 
their  understanding  of  the  object  of 
their  endeavor.  But  one  man  comes  to 
the  difficulty  and  is  stopped  by  it.  It  is 
an  absolute  veto  to  his  endeavor.  He 
can  go  no  further.  The  other  man 
comes  to  the  same  difficulty,  and  his 
intelligence  and  training  enable  him 
quickly  to  overcome  it.  It  is  to  him 
60 


SKILL 

only  an  incident  in  his  day's  work.  Skill 
is  not  a  substitute  for  an  ideal ;  it  is  only 
the  way  by  which  an  ideal  may  be 
realized. 

What  the  increase  of  skill  really  does 
is  to  widen  the  sphere  of  moral  free- 
dom, so  that  it  takes  in  not  merely 
thought  and  feeling,  but  also  effective 
action.  It  makes  it  possible  for  the  good 
cause  to  succeed. 

The  disappointment  which  comes  in 
reading  the  history  of  many  heroic  souls 
is  not  because  they  did  not  receive 
material  rewards,  —  these  they  did  not 
seek,  but  because  they  did  not  accom- 
plish the  thing  nearest  their  hearts. 
There  is  a  baffled  feeling  as  of  one 
vainly  fighting  against  remorseless  Fate, 
when  the  most  earnest  effort  fails  to 
bring  the  result  which  is  sought. 
61 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

The  law-giver  wills  justice.  He  lives 
to  see  the  instruments  of  justice  per- 
verted to  the  uses  of  civil  tyranny.  The 
prophet  calls  people  to  the  worship  of 
Divine  righteousness,  and  then,  look- 
ing upon  the  externalization  of  religion 
cries,  "  Israel  hath  forgotten  God  and 
buildeth  temples."  The  philanthropist 
wills  mercy,  and  finds  the  institutions 
of  charity  becoming  hateful  because  of 
the  cold-heartedness  of  those  who  ad- 
minister their  resources.  The  revolu- 
tionist fares  no  better.  He  wills  liberty, 
but  how  to  realize  it  in  the  period  of 
revolution  he  knows  not.  The  great 
words  he  utters  return  to  him  in 
mocking  echoes. 

The  nations  thronged  around,  and  cried  aloud 
As  with  one  voice,  Truth,  liberty  and  love ! 
Suddenly  confusion  fell  from  heaven 

62 


SKILL 

Among  them ;  there  was  strife,  deceit  and  fear ; 
Tyrants  rushed  in  and  did  divide  the  spoil. 
This  was  the  shadow  of  the  truth  I  saw. 

The  ancient  explanation  of  such  sor- 
rowful disappointments  was  altogether 
fatalistic.  The  Hebrew  sage  saw  this 
as  the  vanity  under  the  sun.  "All  things 
come  alike  to  all,  there  is  one  event  to 
the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  to  the 
good  and  to  the  clean  and  to  the  un- 
clean, to  him  that  sacrificeth  and  to  him 
that  sacrificeth  not,  as  to  the  good  so  to 
the  sinner."  So  far  as  he  himself  was 
concerned,  he  would  make  the  brave 
decision.  He  would  "fear  God  and  keep 
his  commandments,  this  is  the  whole 
duty  of  man."  But  it  was  a  duty  done 
without  hope  of  its  accomplishing  any- 
thing. 

The  Stoics'  realm'of  moral  freedom  was 

63 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

equally  limited.  They  divided  all  things 
into  two  great  categories, — the  things 
which  are  within  our  power,  and  those 
which  lie  outside.  In  regard  to  the  first 
category  we  must  be  solicitous.  Like 
good  soldiers  we  must  guard  all  that  is 
left  in  our  custody.  But  toward  the 
rest  we  must  cultivate  an  austere  in- 
difference. They  are  to  be  treated 
as  the  soldier  treats  the  cold  and 
the  heat.  They  are  incidents  to  be  dis- 
regarded. The  greater  part  of  actual 
existence  fell  within  the  second  cate- 
gory- 

And  Christian  ethics  made  the  same 
distinction.  "Let  every  man  bear  his 
own  burden,"  is  one  text.  "Cast  thy 
burden  on  the  Lord,"  is  another.  They 
are  not  really  contradictory  because 
they  refer  to  two  different  kinds  of  bur- 


SKILL 

dens — those  which  we  can  bear  and 
those  whose  nature  is  such  that  we  can- 
not bear  them.  There  are  some  things 
for  which  we  are  responsible,  for  they 
are  within  our  power.  These  things  we 
must  assume — they  belong  to  us.  There 
are  other  things  which  do  not  come  by 
our  will,  and  cannot  be  changed  by  our 
effort;  these  things  need  not  trouble  us. 
It  is  enough  for  us  to  leave  them  in 
God's  hands. 

The  distinction  is  founded  on  good 
sense,  and  ^must  always  remain.  But 
there  has  been  a  constant  change  in  the 
number  of  things  included  in  the  two  di- 
visions. With  the  growth  of  knowledge 
and  with  the  increase  in  skill,  one 
event  after  another  has  been  taken  out 
of  the  category  of  the  morally  indiffer- 
ent and  placed  within  the  realm  of 

65 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

human  responsibility.  In  other  words, 
the  world  is  being  gradually  moralized. 
What  was  once  attributed  to  time  and 
chance,  is  now  seen  to  be  within  the 
control  of  the  enlightened  will. 

Take  that  lamentation  of  Ecclesiastes : 
"  I  returned  and  saw  under  the  sun  that 
the  race  is  not  to  the  swift,  nor  the  bat- 
tle to  the  strong,  nor  bread  to  the  wise, 
nor  yet  riches  to  men  of  understanding, 
nor  yet  favor  to  men  of  skill,  but  time 
and  chance  happen  to  them  all." 

That  was  the  observation  of  a  man 
who  saw  things  as  they  were  in  his  own 
land  and  time.  It  is  such  an  observation 
as  a  philosopher  in  Mexico  or  Turkey 
or  Persia  might  make  at  the  present 
time.  Personal  merit  has  nothing  to  do 
with  success  in  life.  The  wisest  and 
best^are  the  victims.  Selfish  and  cruel 
66 


SKILL 

men  have  the  advantage  in  the  struggle 
for  existence.  It  is  an  observation  which 
is  measurably  true  in  every  community. 
But  the  ancient  observer  makes  of  it  a 
wide  generalization  asHf  he  were  stating 
an  unescapable  law  of  nature.  And  the 
pessimist  accepts  the  generalization  at 
its  face  value.  It  is  not  worth  while  for 
a  man  to  try  to  be  wise  or  good  or  even 
energetic  in  a  world  like  this.  He  can- 
not expect  in  that  way  to  get  on.  His  vir- 
tues and  his  talents  only  handicap  him. 
But  read  the  lamentation  to  a  modern 
social  reformer  and  note  his  response. 
In  the  first  place  he  inquires  narrowly 
into  the  facts.  To  what  extent,  he  asks, 
is  it  true  that  the  best  individuals  in  any 
particular  community  are  crowded  out, 
and  the  unfit  survive  and  increase  ?  In 
so  far  as  it  exists,  this  is  an  evil,  but  it 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

is  not  to  be  vaguely  and  hopelessly  at- 
tributed to  an  unfriendly  universe,  but 
to  certain  definite  imperfections  in  the 
social  order.  And  it  is  our  business  to 
find  out  what  these  are  and  to  find  the 
remedy. 

The  gardener  sees  this  evil  under  the 
sun,  that  sturdy  weeds  grow  apace,  and 
take  the  sustenance  from  the  more  del- 
icate but  more  useful  plants.  But  he 
does  not  fold  his  hands  in  fatalistic 
resignation.  Here  is  a  challenge  to  his 
skill.  He  studies  the  soil  and  the  growth 
of  the  plants  both  evil  and  good.  He  so 
orders  his  garden  that  those  he  loves 
best  shall  thrive  best.  And  in  so  doing 
he  learns  that  he  is  not  working  against 
Nature  but  with  her.  He  is  doing  quickly 
what  she  is  doing  slowly  and  on  a  vaster 
scale. 

68 


SKILL 

In  our  day  people  are  beginning  to 
see  that  the  old  fatalistic  notions  which 
surrounded  the  conception  of  law  and 
government  are  superstitious.  A  gov- 
ernment does  not  exist  for  itself,  still 
less  do  the  people  exist  for  it.  It  is  as 
much  an  invention  as  a  locomotive  or 
sewing  machine.  It  was  constructed  by 
human  skill  and  it  can  be  reconstructed 
by  increased  skill.  When  it  does  not  do 
the  work  for  which  it  was  designed,  the 
machine  must  be  repaired,  or  perhaps 
new  parts  added. 

If  we  have  a  state  of  affairs  in  which 
individual  talents  are  repressed  and  am- 
bition smothered,  in  which  industry 
does  not  get  its  proper  rewards,  and 
the  wise  and  just  are  at  a  disadvantage, 
then  our  social  organization  is  at  fault.  It 
is  time  for  us  to  see  what  is  the  matter. 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

We  must  call  in  the  expert  and  follow 
his  advice. 

The  very  multiplicity  of  the  devices 
for  doing  good,  and  the  technical  skill 
that  is  enlisted  in  the  work,  obscure  to 
many  minds  the  spiritual  significance  of 
it  all.  It  is  as  if  the  Good  Samaritan, 
with  his  big  heart  and  his  scanty  equip- 
ment for  service,  were  suddenly  to  be 
transported  into  a  modern  hospital.  Of 
the  uses  of  the  instruments,  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  the  routine,  or  of  the  meaning 
of  the  terms  freely  used  by  unemotional 
internes  and  "  visiting  men,"  he  would 
know  nothing.  He  would  not  at  first 
realize  that  the  complex  machinery  had 
no  other  object  than  the  fulfillment  of 
his  heart's  desire.  These  were  the  mod* 
ern  improvements  on  his  simple  win? 
and^oil. 

70 


SKILL 

Those  who  complain  that  in  our'day 
people  are  turning  away  from  the  ideal 
to  the  practical,  should,  before  they 
allow  themselves  to  become  too  much 
discouraged,  define  their  terms;  use  the 
words  as  adjectives  and  ask,  Ideal  what? 
Practical  what? 

The  answer  is  ideal  ends,  and  practi- 
cal methods.  The  great  fact  is,  not  that 
people  are  turning  away  from  ideal  ends, 
but  that  they  are,  as  never  before,  pro- 
foundly interested  in  practical  methods 
for  attaining  these  ends.  Doing  justly 
and  mercifully,  walking  humbly  before 
God,  are  recognized  as  skilled  occupa- 
tions. 

To  the  educated  men  and  women  of 
this  generation,  it  is  particularly  neces- 
sary to  have  a  clear  understanding  of 
this  relation  between  ideal  purposes 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

and  practical  methods.  We  can  say  of 
Beauty  that  it  is  its  own  excuse  for  be- 
ing. But  we  cannot  say  the  same  thing 
of  Skill.  Its  justification  lies  in  its  rela- 
tion to  its  object.  Skill  ^applied  to  un- 
worthy purposes  only  makes  disaster 
greater  and  more  certain.  Efficiency  be- 
comes a  mere  fetish  to  those  who  do 
not  ask  carefully  what  is  the  purpose  of 
the  work  which  is  efficiently  done. 

Thomas  a  Kempis  prayed,  "Grant 
me,  O  Lord,  to  know  what  is  worth 
knowing  and  to  love  what  is  worth  lov- 
ing." Only  out  of  such  desire  can  come 
worthy  action.  The  thing  that  is  worth 
knowing  and  worth  loving  is  also  worth 
doing.  The  next  question  is,  how  to  do 
it.  This  is  a  matter  of  skill. 

It  might  be  possible  to  make  two 

72 


SKILL 

charts  of  human  progress  through  the 
ages.  One  would  indicate  fervor  of  the 
spirit,  the  devotion  to  pure  ideals,  as 
manifest  in  feeling  and  word.  The  other 
would  record  the  growth  in  efficiency, 
the  extent  to  which  moral  endeavor  ac- 
tually modified  the  course  of  events. 

The  first,  I  imagine,  would  look  very 
much  like  a  clinical  chart.  There  would 
be  sudden  risings  and  falls  in  tempera- 
ture. In  one  generation  there  would  be 
a  great  access  of  spiritual  courage,  a  re- 
vival of  pure  religion.  Then  would  be 
recorded  the  periods  of  coldness  and 
torpor.  These  periods  would  not  coin- 
cide with  advance  in  other  directions. 
It  is  in  the  darkest  ages  that  the  great- 
est heroes  and  saints  have  lived. 

But  the  other  would  be  like  a  map 
showing  the  course  of  some  great  river. 

73 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

It  begins  in  a  tiny  rivulet,  and  it  in- 
creases not  through  any  mysterious 
power  of  growth  in  itself,  but  by  what 
it  receives  from  its  affluents.  A  thou- 
sand streams  flow  into  it  and  add  their 
waters  to  its  current. 

The  increase  of  skill  is  cumulative. 
The  results  of  the  experience  of  one 
generation  are  handed  down  to  the  next. 
This  increment  is  not  dependent  on 
states  of  feeling.  Our  desire  for  right- 
eousness may  be  no  greater  than  that  of 
our  barbarous  progenitors,  but  our  abil- 
ity to  perform  is  undoubtedly  greater. 

From  this  point  of  view  the  old  dis- 
cussion about  Justification  by  Faith 
takes  on  a  new  aspect.  The  question 
was  as  to  which  was  the  important 
thing,  the  outer  act  or  the  inner  impulse. 
Luther  took  the  side  of  inner  liberty. 
74 


SKILL 

"The  good  work  does  not  make  the 
good  man/'  he  said,  "the  good  man 
does  the  good  work." 

The  modern  reformer  would  say: 
We  must  first  determine  accurately 
what  we  mean  by  a  good  man  and  what 
we  mean  by  a  good  work.  Each  must 
be  judged  according  to  its  own  nature. 
A  man's  goodness  must  be  judged  by 
his  motive,  and  a  work  must  be  judged 
by  its  results.  When  such  tests  are  ap- 
plied, it  appears  that  many  so-called 
"good  works"  are  not  good  at  all. 
They  are  either  futile  or  pernicious. 
No  amount  of  such  works  can  make  a 
man  better.  On  the  other  hand,  whether 
a  good  man  does  good  works  depends 
upon  whether  he  has  learned  how  to 
do  them.  He  will  certainly  desire  to  do 
good,  but  whether  he  succeeds  is  an- 

75 


\THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

other  matter.  His  intentions  may  be 
right  and  his  actions  may  bring  calami- 
ties. The  blunders  of  the  good  are  some- 
times as  disastrous  as  the  crimes  of  the 
wicked. 

A  clear  comprehension  of  the  effect 
which  advancing  knowledge  and  in- 
creasing skill  have  on  moral  judgments 
would  save  us  from  many  fruitless 
discussions.  It  would  enable  us  to  see 
the  real  point  of  agreement  between 
the  ethical  idealist  and  the  well-in- 
tentioned "  practical "  man  who  often 
misunderstands  and  resists  him. 

In  every  generation  there  is  a  con- 
troversy going  on  between  the  radical 
reformers  and  the  conservatives.  Each 
accuses  the  other  of  moral  obliquity. 
The  reformer  fixes  his  mind  upon  a 


SKILL 

specific  evil  which  has  become  a  part  of 
the  social  system.  He  declares  it  to  be 
cruel  and  unjust.  He  pictures  the  suf- 
fering that  is  entailed  to  the  innocent. 
Let  us  do  away  with  this,  he  says,  at 
any  cost.  And  so  by  every  method  of 
agitation  he  seeks  to  arouse  the  social 
conscience,  and  unite  all  good  people 
in  behalf  of  his  cause. 

Great  is  his  disappointment  and  in- 
dignation when  he  finds  that  his  appeal 
falls  on  indifferent  or  even  hostile  ears. 
His  measures  for  the  alleviation  of  hu- 
man misery  meet  not  only  with  the  op- 
position of  selfish  interests  but  with 
the  disapproval  of  those  whose  personal 
characters  are  above  suspicion.  Their 
attitude  is  disconcerting  because  they 
refuse  to  face  fairly  the  specific  ques- 
tion which  he  raises.  They  are  in  real- 

77 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

ity  fatalists  so  far  as  this  matter  is  con- 
cerned. "Yes,"  they  say,  "we  admit 
that  many  things  may  be  going  on 
which  are  unpleasant  to  contemplate. 
Not  only  is  such  investigation  as  you 
undertake  unpleasant  but  it  is  also  un- 
profitable. There  are  doubtless  evils 
here,  but  they  are  evils  incidental  to 
the  great  and  good  work  in  which 
society  is  engaged.  On  the  whole  we 
are  doing  very  well,  and  the  good  work 
should  not  be  disturbed.  We  cannot 
expect  perfection  in  a  world  like  this. 
We  must  all  learn  to  endure  hardness 
and  become  good  soldiers.  When  we 
are  sure  that  a  great  constructive  proc- 
ess is  going  on,  we  must  patiently  go 
on  with  it  We  must  not  allow  our- 
selves to  be  disturbed  by  destructive 
criticism.  We  would  not,  of  course,  do 


SKILL 

evil  that  good  may  come.  But  when 
we  see  a  solid  good,  we  must  endure 
the  evils  which  accompany  it,  and  which 
we  see  to  be  inevitable." 

This  is  the  answer  which  in  the  first 
half  of  the  last  century  was  given  to  the 
reformers  who,  in  England,  investigated 
the  work  of  women  in  the  mines.  "  Yes, 
it  is  doubtless  very  distressing  that 
women  and  girls  are  employed  as  beasts 
of  burden,  that  they  work  in  under- 
ground passages,  often  on  their  hands 
and  knees,  drawing  loads  of  coal.  It  is 
a  pity  that  they  have  such  long  hours, 
and  that  their  scanty  wages  will  not  al- 
low of  nourishing  food.  It  is  a  pity  too 
that  these  women  should  by  the  very  na- 
ture of  their  calling,  be  prevented  from 
living  a  respectable  life.  But  this  is  one 
of  the  sacrifices  demanded  by  civiliza- 
79 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

tion.  It  is  necessary  that  we  should  have 
cheap  fuel,  and  this  is  the  only  way  that 
we  can  have  it." 

It  is  the  answer  which  the  educational 
reformer  has  always  received.  "Yes; 
the  sensitive  child  has  a  hard  time  of  it. 
He  is  bullied  by  his  masters  and  by  his 
companions.  His  health  sometimes  suf- 
fers from  long  hours  and  bad  air.  He  is 
driven,  instead  of  gently  led,  in  the  paths 
of  learning.  Tasks  are  given  him  un- 
suited  to  his  years.  At  the  time  he  hates 
the  school  and  all  its  ways,  but  after  a 
while  he  will  see  that  all  has  been  for 
the  best.  He  will  forget  the  injustices  of 
which  he  has  been  the  victim.  It  is  all 
involved  in  the  necessarily  painful  proc- 
ess of  education.  Of  course  some  can- 
not stand  it.  Every  system  has  its  fail- 
ures. But  the  survivors  agree  to  praise 
80 


SKILL 

the  discipline  they  have  undergone.  It 
is  that  which  has  made  them  what  they 
are.  Certainly  that  is  a  sufficient  justifi- 
cation for  it  in  their  eyes." 

Suppose  we  were  to  interview  a  hun- 
dred "successful "men  as  to  the  means 
by  which  they  got  their  living.  We 
should  find  a  substantial  agreement 
among  them.  They  would  say,  "  We  do 
not  claim  that  the  means  by  which  we 
have  succeeded  have  been  ideally  per- 
fect, and  the  conditions  have  not  been 
those  we  should  have  chosen.  But  we 
are  practical  men  and  must  take  the 
world  as  we  find  it  and  do  the  best  we 
can.  Now  and  then  there  have  been 
things  that  involved  hardship  to  our 
competitors.  We  had  to  shut  our  eyes 
to  these  things  and  go  on.  If  we  have 
been  less  generous  and  kindly  in  our 
81 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

dealings  than  we  should  have  desired,  it 
is  because  it  was  necessary.  We  must 
get  our  living,  you  know." 

This  is  that  form  of  fatalism  which 
is  called  "economic  determinism."  It 
is  that  which  makes  every  man  an  apol- 
ogist for  that  by  which  he  lives.  But  it 
is  not  limited  by  purely  economic  neces- 
sity. Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone. 
In  the  pursuit  of  the  ideals  of  the  higher 
life  he  also  feels  the  pressure  of  harsh 
necessities. 

The  history  of  human  progress  is  full 
of  cruelty.  Religious^persecution  was 
justified  and  practiced  by  many  who 
were  kind-hearted.  Persecution  was 
looked  upon  as  a  practical  necessity,  if 
the  business  of  religious  propagandism 
was  to  be  carried  on  upon  a  large  scale. 
Moral  suasion  was  doubtless  the  ideal 

82 


SKILL 

thing,  but  it  was  very  slow  and  uncertain 
in  its  working.  To  get  results  one  must 
sometimes  harden  one's  heart  and  use 
physical  force. 

We  have  believers  in  modern  civili- 
zation who  are  equally  ruthless  in  their 
methods  of  advancing  it.  Backward 
peoples  must,  they  say,  be  exterminated 
in  order  that  the  better  stock  may  have 
a  chance  to  increase.  The  incidental 
pain  must  be  endured  for  the  sake  of 
the  greater  good.  In  all  this  we  are  im- 
itating the  methods  of  nature.  We  are 
deliberately  acting  as  instruments  of 
Manifest  Destiny.  In  all  such  discus- 
sions we  have  the  contrast  between  the 
idealist  appealing  to  sentiment,  and  the 
practical  man  insisting  on  the  consider- 
ation of  the  necessities  of  the  case.  And 
so  long  as  the  discussion  takes  this  form, 
83 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

the  practical  man  has  the  advantage. 
He  is  standing  firmly  for  facts  as  he  sees 
them,  and  is  working  as  best  he  can  for 
the  modest  possibilities  within  his  reach. 
I  am  not  sure  but  that  morally  he  has 
the  advantage.  He  is  loyal  to  certain 
great  achievements  of  the  race.  They 
form  a  body  of  tested  good.  He  is  not 
willing  to  give  them  up  for  what  may 
be  only  a  dream  of  perfection.  The 
worst  government  is  better  than  no 
government  at  all.  The  most  cruel  in- 
dustrial system  does  keep  the  majority 
of  people  from  starving.  The  pedant 
with  his  rod  teaches  the  boy  something 
which  he  could  not  have  learned  by  him- 
self. Only  a  liberal  bigot  will  deny  that 
there  have  been  times  when  religious 
bigotry  was  useful. 

But  when  the  idealistic  reformer  has 


SKILL 

added  to  his  spiritual  courage  the  nec- 
essary skill,  the  tables  are  turned.  He 
ceases  to  be  a  mere  agitator  and  begins 
to  speak  as  an  expert.  All  that  the  hon- 
est conservative  claims  he  frankly  ad- 
mits. All  that  the  conservative  loves, 
he  loves  also,  and  values  highly.  There 
is  to  be  no  wanton  destruction,  no  waste 
of  good  material.  In  regard  to  ultimate 
ends  there  is  also  a  good  understanding. 
The  wisdom  of  the  past  is  not  to  be 
ignored. 

I  agree,  says  the  expert,  that  we  must 
be  severely  practical.  We  must  not 
waste  our  time  over  barren  idealities. 
Our  admiration  is  for  the  "  men  who  do 
things."  Let  us  make  a  list  of  the  things 
you  want  to  do,  and  then  consider  the 
best  possible  means  of  doing  them. 
When  such  a  list  is  made,  it  appears, 

85 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

my  dear  sir,  that  there  is  a  great  deal 
of  waste  in  the  methods  you  have  em- 
ployed. With  the  best  intentions  in  the 
world,  you  have  not  been  "getting  re- 
sults." You  have  been  using  obsolete 
machinery,  and  employing  unskilled 
workmen.  Let  us  see  how  all  this  may 
be  changed  to  your  advantage.  A  great 
many  things  can  be  done  which  you  de- 
clare to  be  impossible.  But  of  course 
you  need  to  learn  how! 

The  increase  of  skill  means  an  in- 
crease of  responsibility.  That  which 
makes  life  in  these  days  so  difficult 
is  that  so  many  things  which  once 
were  deemed  impossible  are  attempted. 
There  has  come  the  sudden  realiza- 
tion that  we  can  do  more  than  in  our 
ignorance  we  thought  we  could.  The 
86 


SKILL 

conscience  finds  its  jurisdiction  en- 
larged, and  is  overwhelmed  with  new 
business.  The  old  commandments  be- 
come more  formidable.  We  have  heard 
it  said  by  them  of  old  time, "  Thou  shalt 
not  kill."  But  we  did  not  dream  of  our 
own  destructive  powers.  We  should 
not  poison  our  neighbor's  well.  We  are 
just  beginning  to  realize  that  unwit- 
tingly we  had  been  poisoning  the  air 
he  breathed.  To  avoid  this  crime  we 
have  to  rebuild  our  cities.  More  and 
more  the  death-list  is  scrutinized  and 
accidents  once  described  as  "acts  of 
God"  are  seen  to  be  the  acts  of  men. 
The  list  of  avoidable  disasters  and  pre- 
ventable diseases  grows  rapidly.  The 
lives  lost  upon  our  railroads,  in  factories, 
in  mines,  in  unsanitary  homes,  are  lives 
for  which  somebody  must  be  held  re- 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

sponsible.  Such  losses  are  not  inevit- 
able. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  steal "  was  "a  com- 
mandment which  once  brought  little 
compunction  to  respectable  members 
of  society.  But  that  was  in  pre-scientific 
days.  To-day  only  the  very  stupid  can 
feel  free  from  any  sense  of  guilt.  We 
not  only  see  the  disinherited  but  we  ask, 
how  they  came  to  be  disinherited.  Who 
took  away  the  opportunities  that  should 
have  been  theirs?  Who  robbed  them 
of  their  inheritance  ?  That  an  individual 
should  not  make  good  use  of  his  oppor- 
tunities is  something  which  society  can- 
not prevent.  But  it  certainly  can  prevent 
his  being  deprived  of  reasonable  op- 
portunities to  live  a  healthy  and  useful 
life. 

But  though  the  advance  of  knowledge 


SKILL 

increases  our  sense  of  responsibility  it 
brings  with  it  an  exhilarating  sense  of 
freedom.  Necessary  evils  there  must  al- 
ways be,  and  we  must  summon  strength 
to  bear  them.  But  the  conviction  grows 
that  a  vast  amount  of  evil  which  has 
been  patiently  borne  is  in  reality  un- 
necessary. The  field  of  effective  moral 
action  has  broadened,  and  the  chances 
of  success  have  increased.  Because  cer- 
tain evils  have  always  existed  is  no  rea- 
son why  they  should  continue.  It  only 
means  that  greater  skill  and  more  per- 
sistent work  are  called  for.  It  is  a  diffi- 
cult but  not  an  impossible  task  that  is 
proposed. 

To  abolish  grinding  poverty,  to  out- 
wit the  forces  of  corruption,  actually 
to  prevent  preventable  diseases,  to  plan 
cities  for  the  comfort  and  well-being  of 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

the  citizens,  to  take  away  from  neces- 
sary labor  unnecessary  hardships  and 
degradation,  to  prevent  social  deteriora-* 
tion,  ^to  distribute  more  equitably  the 
rewards  of  industry  —  these  are  not  the 
vague  ideals  of  the  sentimentalist:  they 
are  the  specifications  of  work  to  be 
done;  they  involve  problems  which 
specialists  are  working  on. 

A     seventeenth-century    poet     ex- 
claimed:— 

O  holy  Hope  and  high  Humility. 

To  the  holy  hope  of  prophets  and 
saints  has  been  added  the  high  humility 
of  the  man  of  science.  There  is  nothing, 
he  says,  unreasonable  in  the  hope,  but  it 
is  to  be  fulfilled  not  after  the  apocalyptic 
manner,  by  a  miraculous  intervention  of 
an  unrelated  force.  It  is  to  be  wrought 
90 


SKILL 

out  through  patient  experimentation. 
The  civilization  of  to-day  is  the  result 
of  the  work  of  the  generations  that  have 
gone  before  us.  They  had  high  ideals, 
but  imperfect  knowledge  and  clumsy 
tools.  They  fell  far  short  of  their  ideals. 
With  greater  knowledge  and  better  tools 
and  finer  skill  to  use  them,  we  and  our 
children  must  certainty  be  able  to  ac- 
complish much  which  to  them  was 
impossible. 

The  hope  of  the  world  lies  in  the  fact 
that  men  are  beginning  to  do  intelli- 
gently what  they  have  always  attempted. 
It  is  less  and  less  true  that 

The  good  want  power  but  to  weep  barren  tears. 
The  powerful  goodness  want :  worse  need  for 

them. 
The  wise  want  love,  and  those  who  love  want 

wisdom ; 
And  all  best  things  are  thus  confused  to  ill. 

91 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

We  are  beginning  to  see  that  this  di- 
vorce between  the  intellect  and  the  con- 
science is  not  a  fatalistic  necessity  of 
being.  We  cannot  conceive  of  human 
progress  save  as  we  think  of  goodness 
grown  wise  and  skillful.  And  when  it 
grows  wise  and  skillful,  it  grasps  the 
lordship  of  the  earth. 


Ill 

LOVE 

WE  have  been  watching  successive 
phases  of  a  great  battle  for  human  free- 
dom. We  have  seen  a  creature  emerg- 
ing from  the  dust  of  the  earth  and  at  first 
hardly  to  be  differentiated  from  other 
creatures,  developing  powers  that  are 
creative.  At  first  merely  passive  under 
the  moulding  power  of  circumstances, 
man  develops  moral  initiative.  He  no 
longer  floats  upon  the  current,  he  strug- 
gles against  it.  We  first  wonder  at  the 
audacity  of  the  attempt,  and  then  mar- 
vel at  the  increase  of  skill  which  it  de- 
velops. We  cannot,  as  we  watch  the 
long-continued  effort,  fail  to  see  that 
93 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

human  will  and  human  intellect  are 
steadily  gaining.  The  strong  wise  man, 
in  whose  brain  are  the  results  of  the  ex- 
perience of  the  race,  has  emerged.  This 
man  does  not  cower  before  destiny,  he 
is  not  overcome  by  the  horror  of  great 
darkness.  He  has  overcome  a  thousand 
difficulties.  His  courage  has  grown  in- 
telligent and  resourceful.  Never  has 
there  been  such  consciousness  of  power. 

The  triumphs  of  science  mark  the  de- 
feat of  the  older  forms  ofjatalism.  Hu- 
man effort  is  seen  not  to  be  futile  but 
fruitful  beyond  the  anticipation  of  the 
sages.  Blind  forces  yield  to  will  guided 
by  intelligence.  Man  can  outwit  nature. 
Materialism  of  the  old  crude  sort  has 
become  unthinkable. 

Just  now  philosophers  are  putting 
their  emphasis  not  on  the  properties  of 
94 


LOVE 

matter  or  on  the  invariable  sequences  of 
physics,  but  on  the  phenomena  of  life. 
Their  philosophy  is  vitalistic  rather 
than  materialistic.  We  must  study 
life  at  first  hand,  and  not  be  content 
with  analogies  drawn  from  the  inani- 
mate world.  The  living  creature  acts 
differently  from  the  non-living  thing. 
To  be  alive  means  to  exercise  mysteri- 
ous power,  and  the  more  alive  any 
creature  is  the  more  the  mystery 
deepens. 

A  machine  does  the  same  thing  over 
and  over  again.  When  we  have  thor- 
oughly understood  it,  we  may  make 
another  machine  which  will  be  practi- 
cally identical  with  it  and  which  will 
produce  the  same  results.  But  this  is 
not  true  of  a  living  being.  When  we 
think  we  see  identity,  it  is  because  our 

95 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

slow  perceptions  do  not  follow  the 
marvelously  quick  changes  which  take 
place.  It  is  like  the  conventional  picture 
of  a  galloping  horse.  It  does  not  repre- 
sent truly  what  actually  takes  place. 

Life  persists  and  evolves  as  an  endless 
succession  of  changes.  These  changes 
are  unpredictable,  because  they  depend 
upon  the  coincidence  of  so  many  forces. 
A  knowledge  of  a  lower  form  of  life 
gives  no  answer  to  the  question  as  to 
the  emergence  and  survival  of  a  higher 
form.  What  we  call  growth  is  a  kind  of 
change  which  baffles  the  understanding. 
The  living  creature  is  continually  escap- 
ing from  its  old  forms,  and  creating  new 
ones.  When  we  have  watched  the  proc- 
ess we  accept  it  as  a  fact.  But  no  one, 
before  the  event,  could  have  anticipated 
what  was  to  take  place. 


LOVE 

Now  when  we  turn  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  life  and  its  ways,  we  are  conscious 
that  we  are  threatened  with  another  form 
of  fatalism.  The  vision  comes  of  perpet- 
ual change  through  evolving  life.  Here 
is  an  impulse  which  moves  us.  But  can 
we  hope  to  master  it? 

Courage  and  Skill  are  alike  baffled. 
Milton  speaks  of  "  fixed  fate."  A  brave 
man  may  defy  a  fixed  fate.  He  may  op- 
pose to  it  a  fixed  determination.  There 
is  something  to  resist.  But  Emerson 
expresses  a  more  modern  conception 
when  he  speaks  of  the  "flowing  fates." 
What  if  everything  is  in  perpetual  flux? 
Life  is  a  river  flowing  through  an  ocean. 
We  are  not,  as  the  materialist  would  say, 
the  drops  of  water  moved  by  the  cur- 
rent. Our  vital  impulses  move  inani- 
mate things.  Our  lives  are  moving 

97 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

powers.  But  whither  do  they  move? 
We  are  awed  by  the  incalculable  possi- 
bilities of  our  own  natures.  Below  our 
consciousness  we  become  aware  of  the 
"abysmal  deeps  of  personality." 

With  sufficient  skill  we  can  master 
machinery.  It  is  something  which  in- 
tellect can  invent  and  control.  It  is  a 
case  of  the  higher  ruling  the  lower  to 
its  own  good.  But  a  vital  process  is  dif- 
ferent. We  cannot  invent  it.  It  does  not 
yield  its  secret  to  thought.  Life  is  con- 
tinually transcending  itself.  Its  history 
is  a  succession  of  surprises.  By  the  time 
you  have  described  one  phase  of  its 
development  it  has  become  something 
else. 

It  is  the  instability  of  life  that  puzzles 
us.  That  which  we  try  to  grasp  slips 
away  from  us  and  assumes  a  different 


LOVE 

form.  And  we  ourselves  because  we  are 
alive  are  never  the  same.  We  awake  in 
the  morning  to  complete  yesterday's 
task.  But  yesterday  has  vanished,  and 
yesterday's  enthusiasms.  We  cannot  by 
taking  thought  restore  the  exact  situa- 
tion. Is  there  not  then  a  fatal  necessity 
that  nothing  should  really  be  finished, 
or  if  finished  according  to  a  former  plan 
should  not  satisfy  us  ? 

A  child  busies  himself  constructing 
a  play-house  and  filling  it  with  all  things 
which  he  thinks  desirable.  After  a  few 
years  he  returns  to  the  work  of  his  hands, 
a  stranger  to  its  joys.  The  years  have 
brought  disenchantment.  He  has  out- 
grown his  playthings. 

This  is  the  tragedy  of  growth.  It 
means  the  outgrowing  of  that  which 
once  gave  satisfaction.  We  all  feel  it 

99 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

when  we  return  after  many  years  to  once 
familiar  places.  But  the  process  itself  is 
a  continuous  one.  It  goes  on  from  hour 
to  hour,  through  innumerable,  imper- 
ceptible transitions. 

It  follows  that  the  more  definite  our 
plans  for  the  future  the  more  certain  we 
are  to  be  disappointed.  The  mechanical 
arrangements  we  can  control,  and  the 
results  we  can  predict.  Here  everything 
can  be  well-timed.  But  what  of  our- 
selves and  our  friends  whom  we  think 
of  as  enjoying  the  triumph?  Who  can 
predict  the  changes  which  may  turn  the 
expected  joy  into  bitterness? 

When  we  come  to  follow  closely  the 
lives  of  able  men  whom  we  have  looked 
upon  as  eminently  successful,  we  often 
find  that  they  themselves  are  over- 
whelmed with  a  sense  of  failure.  It 
100 


LOVE 

is  not  that  they  have  failed  to  achieve 
that  which  they  intended,  but  that  they 
have  failed  to  receive  the  satisfaction 
they  anticipated  out  of  their  achieve- 
ments. The  very  definiteness  of  their 
plans  and  the  completeness  of  their  ar- 
rangements leaves  nothing  further  for 
them  to  do.  Now  that  the  thing  they 
planned  has  been  accomplished,  it  seems 
to  have  been  inevitable.  It  is  accepted 
and  ignored  as  one  of  the  mass  of  com- 
monplace facts. 

But  while  they  have  been  working 
diligently  and  efficiently,  other  things 
have  happened  which  they,  in  their  ab- 
sorption in  their  own  affairs,  have  not 
noticed.  These  other  happenings  have 
also  their  results,  and  a  new  condition 
has  arisen,  and  a  new  standard  of 
values. 

101 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

It  is  as  if  a  merchant-adventurer  had, 
with  a  rich  cargo  in  the  hold,  set  out  on 
a  voyage  to  a  distant  market  Many  are 
the  tempests  through  which  the  good 
ship  passes.  The  skillful  mariner  finds 
his  way  in  safety  along  perilous  coasts. 
At  last  he  enters  the  desired  haven, 
only  to  find  the  market  overstocked. 
There  is  no  demand  for  what  he  has 
with  such  difficulty  carried  around  the 
world.  The  cargo  is  safe  but  it  has  lost 
a  large  part  of  its  value. 

This  is  the  common  experience  of  the 
able  man  of  affairs.  The  things  which, 
when  he  was  doing  them,  seemed  so 
important,  once  accomplished  seem  to 
sink  into  utter  insignificance. 

Many  a  great  man  of  business  ac- 
cumulates wealth,  not  from  any  sordid 
motive,  but  in  order  to  enjoy,  as  he  sup- 

102 


LOVE 

poses,  the  increased  consideration  of  his 
fellow-men.  It  is  to  him  the  symbol 
of  power.  But  while  he  is  gaining  it  the 
ethical  standards  of  the  community  have 
changed.  The  methods  which  in  his 
youth  were  admired  as  indications  of 
shrewdness,  are  looked  upon  with  re- 
probation. He  has  outlived  his  genera- 
tion, and  stands  a  pathetic  lonely  figure 
exposed  to  a  kind  of  criticism  which  he 
cannot  understand.  The  very  genuine- 
ness of  his  self-revelations  adds  to  the 
pathos  of  the  situation.  It  is  one  of  the 
tragedies  of  ethical  progress.  Something 
has  happened  to  rob  him  of  the  satisfac- 
tions of  success  and  he  does  not  know 
what  it  is. 

A  similar  fatality  is  seen  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  most  intimate  and  sacred 
relation  of  life.  The  making  of  a  home 
103 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

requires  the  exercise  of  intelligence. 
Many  are  those  who  undertake  to  teach 
the  high  art.  And  yet  it  is  a  notorious 
fact  that  many  of  those  who  are  most 
intelligent  and  conscientious  make  a 
miserable  failure  in  attaining  happi- 
ness. 

In  all  the  mechanical  arrangements  for 
giving  comfort  they  exhibit  skill.  In  all 
that  is  formal  in  conduct  they  are  be- 
yond reproach.  Whatever  is  in  its  na- 
ture definite  in  the  relation  between 
husband  and  wife,  parents  and  children, 
is  carefully  attended  to.  But  there  is  an 
indefinite  something  that  eludes  all  the 
well-meant  efforts. 

A  man  of  strong  will  and  clear  judg- 
ment  attempts    to  train    his   children 
in  the  way  in  which  they  should  go. 
He  surrounds  them  with  all  influences 
104 


LOVE 

which  commend  themselves  as  good. 
He  has  a  very  definite  plan  for  their 
careers,  and  furnishes  them  with  means 
for  fitting  them  to  succeed.  He  has  a 
keen  eye  for  what  he  calls  "  advantages." 
Education  is  a  game  of  skill,  and  he  is 
the  player.  Each  move  is  carefully  con- 
sidered, with  all  its  consequences. 

But  after  a  time  he  begins  to  realize 
that  the  game  is  not  so  simple  as  he  had 
imagined.  Each  piece  upon  his  chess- 
board is  alive  and  develops  a  will  of  its 
own.  While  he  is  considering  how  he 
shall  move  them  next,  they  are  making 
a  hundred  moves  for  themselves.  And 
the  moves  have  been  so  quick  and  un- 
expected that  his  intelligence  cannot 
follow  them.  Each  child  has  a  tempera- 
ment of  its  own,  and  reacts  in  its  own 
way.  Every  year  the  confusion  grows 
105 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

greater  as  their  natures  increase  in  com- 
plexity. 

At  last  the  fateful  day  comes  when 
the  father  for  the  last  time  attempts  to 
exert  his  authority.  He  gives  a  com- 
mand to  his  child,  expecting  prompt  and 
complete  obedience.  But  the  child  is  no 
longer  there.  He  is  confronted  by  an- 
other man,  his  equal,  perhaps  his  su- 
perior, in  strength  of  will. 

The  great  benefactors  of  mankind 
have  experienced  the  same  kind  of  be- 
wilderment. Very  seldom  have  they 
enjoyed  the  fruit  of  their  labors  in  the 
way  they  imagined.  The  dramatic  mo- 
ment of  complete  triumph  never  comes. 

The  story  of  great  inventors  has  had 
always  an  element  of  personal  disap- 
pointment. It  is  not  merely  that  they 
have  at  times  been  robbed  of  their  right- 
106 


LOVE 

ful  rewards  by  unscrupulous  promoters. 
The  difficulty  is  deeper  than  that.  No 
invention  is  as  original  as  its  inventor 
thinks  it  is.  When  after  years  of  patient 
groping  he  announces  his  great  discov- 
ery, he  finds  that  many  others  have  been 
working  on  very  much  the  same  lines. 
He  is  but  one  of  a  great  company.  He 
was  lonely  while  he  was  at  work,?his 
success  he  must  share  with  a  crowd. 
And  when  his  invention  has  been  made, 
there  are  those  who  can  improve  upon 
it.  The  more  important  his  contribution 
to  thought  is,  the  more  quickly  it  is 
absorbed  in  the  common  stock  of  the 
world. 

In  pure  science  the  greatest  men  are 

often  unknown  to  the  great  public.  They 

discover  some  principle  which  suggests 

to  other  minds   practical  applications, 

107 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

which  they  themselves  may  not  have 
seen  or  thought  important.  Their  con- 
tributions do  not  remain  as  a  body  of 
truth  to  be  called  by  their  own  name. 
They  are  forgotten  while  their  work 
becomes  the  property  of  mankind. 

Even  when  their  names  remain  they 
are  not  connected  with  their  real  per- 
sonality. George  Eliot,  in  "  The  Legend 
of  Jubal,"  recites  such  an  experience. 
Jubal,  the  inventor  of  instruments  of 
music,  in  his  old  age  traveled  far  in 
search  of  inspiration.  At  last  there  came 
the  desire  to  return  to  his  home  and  en- 
joy the  triumph  due  to  him. 

"  No  farther  will  I  travel :  once  again 
My  brethren  I  will  see,  and  that  fair  plain 
Where  I  and  Song  were  born.    There  fresh- 
voiced  youth 
Will  pour  my  strains  with  all  the  early  truth 

1 08 


LOVE 

Which  now  abides  not  in  my  voice  and  hands, 
But  only  in  the  soul,  the  will  that  stands 
Helpless  to  move.  My  tribe  remembering 
Will  cry,  4  'T  is  he ! '  and  run  to  greet  me,  wel- 
coming." 

Jubal  came  at  last  to  the  land  where  his 
great  work  had  been  done. 

For  still  he  hoped  to  find  the  former  things, 
And  the  warm  gladness  recognition  brings. 

But  alas,  instead  of  such  warm  recogni- 
tion of  his  worth, 

He  saw  dread  Change,  with  dubious  face  and 

cold, 

That  never  kept  a  welcome  for  the  old, 
Like  some  strange  heir  upon  the  hearth,  arise, 
Saying,  u  This  home  is  mine." 

At  length  he  heard  the  instruments 
of  music,  and  youths  and  maidens,  with 
lyres  and  cymbals  and  flutes,  danced  in 
their  glad  festival.  The  old  man's  ardor 
was  aroused,  and  led  him  to  self-asser- 
tion. 

109 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

All  was  forgotten  but  the  burning  need 
To  claim  his  fuller  self,  to  claim  the  deed 
That  lived  away  from  him,  and  grew  apart, 
While  he  as  from  a  tomb,  with  lonely  heart, 
Warmed  by  no  meeting  glance,  no  hand  that 

pressed, 
Lay  chill  amid  the  life  his  life  had  blessed. 

Then  he  cried  with  a  loud  voice,  "I 
am  Jubal,  I !  —  I  made  the  lyre ! " 

But  the  years  had  separated  Jubal  not 
only  from  his  work  but  from  his  fame. 
His  name  had  become  the  name  not  of  a 
person  but  of  an  Art.  For  him  to  claim 
it  was  profanation. 

The  multitude  was  first  merry  and 
then  angry  over  his  preposterous  claim. 
At  last 

Two  rushed  upon  him  :  two,  the  most  devout 
In  honor  of  great  Jubal,  thrust  him  out, 
And  beat  him  with  their  flutes. 

When  we  turn  from  History  to  Biog- 
no 


LOVE 

raphy  we  learn  the  bitter  meaning  of 
the  legend.  It  lies  in  the  fact  that  men 
are  by  the  mere  fact  of  living  disas- 
sociated from  their  own  works.  The 
historian  follows  a  great  movement.  It 
begins  in  the  fervent  desire  of  a  few 
obscure  men.  It  gains  disciples,  it  en- 
lists in  its  behalf  able  leaders.  It  in- 
spires to  all  sorts  of  heroic  sacrifices.  At 
last  the  good  cause  triumphs.  It  seems 
a  record  of  orderly  progress  from  be- 
ginning to  end. 

But  we  turn  to  the  life-history  of  any 
leader  in  the  movement,  and  we  have  a 
different  impression.  If  he  happens  to 
live  long  we  are  conscious  of  an  anti- 
climax. There  is  a  period  when  the 
man  and  his  cause  coincide.  The  re- 
former is  the  perfect  embodiment  of  the 
reform  to  which  he  gives  his  energies, 
in 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

He  is  lifted  above  himself,  and  his  name 
at  the  same  time  stands  for  a  person  and 
a  principle. 

So  for  a  dramatic  moment  Luther 
expressed  the  yearnings  for  liberty,  in 
the  minds  of  the. German  people.  He 
was  the  Reformation.  So  Mazzini,  and 
afterwards  Garibaldi,  had  moments  in 
their  lives  when  they  personally  re- 
alized the  aspirations  of  the  New  Italy. 
So  John  Bright  in  his  great  days  identi- 
fied himself  completely  with  all  that  was 
generous  and  progressive  in  English 
politics. 

But  the  time  came  when  the  move- 
ments developed  on  lines  which  the 
early  leaders  had  not  anticipated,  and 
took  on  forms  strange  to  them.  Luther 
was  almost  driven  to  distraction  by  the 
various  sects  which  arose  from  his  brave 
112 


LOVE 

insistence  upon  the  right  of  private 
judgment.  It  was  no  longer  Luther's 
reformation,  but  the  reformation  of  the 
sixteenth  century  that  went  on.  And  it 
went  on  in  many  strange  ways  which  to 
the  great  reformer  seemed  destructive 
of  all  religion. 

Italian  unity  came,  but  not  in  the  way 
that  either  Mazzini  or  Garibaldi  ap- 
proved. They  lived  long  enough  to  real- 
ize that  they  were  only  tools  used  for  a 
certain  purpose,  and  then  thrown  aside. 
Other  workmen  with  other  tools  took 
up  the  work  which  had  once  been  theirs. 

Even  John  Bright,  the  most  success- 
ful of  reformers,  lived  long  enough  to 
find  himself  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
party  of  advance.  The  definite  reforms 
to  which  he  had  given  his  life  had  been 
accepted  as  a  part  of  the  existing  order. 

"3 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

But  a  new  generation  had  arisen  with 
its  own  ideals  and  purposes.  With  these 
he  had  little  sympathy  or  understand- 
ing. The  eloquent  agitator  had  to  ap- 
pear to  them  as  a  reactionary. 

What  is  the  common  element  in  all 
these  instances?  In  each  case  the  disap- 
pointment comes  from  something  inher- 
ent m  the  vital  process.  There  is  a 
change  which  we  are  not  prepared  for. 
A  man  who  does  a  good  deed  cannot  put 
it  in  a  safe  deposit  vault  to  be  given  back 
to  him  when  he  calls  for  it.  The  deed 
once  done  is  his  no  longer.  It  enters 
into  the  life  of  the  world  and  is  trans- 
formed beyond  his  recognition.  It  be- 
comes a  "  good  diffused." 

The  fate  of  Jubal  was  that  of  one  who 
wrought  better  than  he  knew.  Had  he 
114 


LOVE 

invented  a  lyre  upon  which  no  one  but 
himself  could  play,  his  fame  would  have 
been  secure, —  and  his  art  would  have 
perished  with  him.  He  would  have  been 
remembered  as  a  miracle  worker.  He 
did  a  wonderful  thing  which  could  never 
be  repeated. 

But  he  invented  instruments  upon 
which  others  could  make  music  and 
which  they  could  improve  upon.  And  so 
the  art  grew  and  the  importance  of  his 
personality  diminished. 

Here  then  we  have  the  complaint 
against  the  vital  process  itself.  It  is  that 
it  has  no  stability  of  form.  It  is  a  per- 
petual change  which  interferes  with  our 
possession  of  the  fruits  of  our  own  labor. 
The  ambitious  man  is  like  a  collector  of 
beautiful  works  of  art,  who  has  no  place 
to  put  the  treasures  he  has  gathered.  He 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

can  do  nothing  with  them  but  give  them 
away. 

Now  so  long  as  our  aims  end  in  our- 
selves all  this  seems  very  sad.  We  are 
cheated  out  of  what  belongs  to  us. 

But  what  if  another  impulse  should 
take  possession  of  us  so  that  we  no 
longer  should  seek  to  have  everything 
end  in  ourselves?  What  if  we  should 
come  to  care  supremely  for  something 
quite  beyond  ourselves,  and  relate  every- 
thing to  that?  Immediately  what  had 
been  our  grievance  becomes  our  oppor- 
tunity. 

Now  that  great  transforming  impulse 
is  that  to  which  we  give  the  name  of 
Love.  It  is  that  which  disenthralls  a 
man  by  making  him  free  from  the  tram- 
mels of  his  own  selfishness.  "Love 
seeketh  not  its  own."  Love  chooses  to 
116 


LOVE 

share  the  good  it  finds.  It  rejoices  in  its 
ability  to  give  away  all  that  has  been 
given  to  it. 

It  is  love  and  only  love  that  can  fol- 
low life  through  all  its  changes.  It  is 
not  bound  to  a  single  form,  but  says 
"Whither  thou  goest  I  will  go."  It  is 
a  new  kind  of  consciousness  which 
changes  our  relation  to  all  that  is  about 
us.  It  gives  us  something  which  no 
amount  of  intelligence  can  give. 

Let  us  imagine  a  great  tree  in  which 
roots  and  trunk  and  branches  and  leaves 
have  come  to  consciousness.  The  sepa- 
rate parts  realize  their  own  existence 
and  their  own  special  functions.  The 
intelligent  root  delves  in  the  earth  pur- 
posefully, and  rejoices  when  it  has 
found  its  food.  The  leaf  knows  itself  to 
117 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

be  what  it  is,  and  watches  eagerly  the 
processes  of  its  own  growth.  By  and  by 
the  sense  of  responsibility  comes,  and 
each  acquires  skill  and  does  its  ap- 
pointed work  better.  And  each  out  of  its 
own  limited  experience  reasons.  Each 
draws  inferences  from  what  has  hap- 
pened in  its  own  sphere,  and  ventures 
upon  large  generalizations.  The  leaf 
argues  that  other  leaves  have  functions 
like  its  own.  They  belong  to  a  compre- 
hensible order.  But  of  the  roots  that 
burrow  in  the  dark  places,  and  are  never 
gay  in  the  sunshine,  it  knows,  and  can 
know,  nothing.  They  do  not  belong  to 
the  intelligible  world.  And  after  a  time 
the  wind  grows  chill,  and  it  sees  its 
fellow  leaves,  its  summer  companions, 
grow  faint  and  let  go  their  hold  upon 
the  branches,  an$  float  away  it  knows 
118 


LOVE 

not  whither.  This  then  is  the  end  of 
all.  There  is  nothing  further  of  which 
it  is  conscious.  It  only  knows  that  it  is 
fated  so  to  be.  At  any  moment  its  turn 
may  come,  as  it  goes  the  way  of  all  the 
living. 

The  reasoning,  we  say,  was  valid  as  far 
as  it  went,  but  the  experience  on  which  it 
was  founded  was  not  complete.  The 
leaf  was  conscious  of  itself  ]  but  it  was 
not  conscious  of  itself  as  a  part  of  the 
tree.  The  thrill  of  the  larger  life  would 
have  changed  resignation  into  the  joy- 
ous acceptance  of  a  high  privilege. 

Suppose  the  tree  consciousness  were 
to  take  possession  of  the  leaf.  It  would 
be  an  overpowering  sense  of  vital  energy 
going  out  in  all  directions.  The  same 
power  which  makes  the  buds  swell 
upon  the  twigs,  works  underground  in 


J  THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

the  hungry  roots.  The  seasons  come 
and  go  but  the  tree  makes  increase  of 
itself.  Everything  is  thought  of  in  its  re- 
lation to  this  wonderful  life. 

Now  that  is  the  kind  of  consciousness 
that  we  call  love.  It  is  the  consciousness 
of  ourselves  not  as  isolated  individuali- 
ties but  as  sharers  in  a  larger  life.  It  is 
the  immediate  apprehension  of  an  indi- 
visible whole.  To  one  who  has  entered 
into  this  consciousness  everything  has  a 
new  value.  It  is  valued  not  for  what  it 
brings  in,  this  is  a  comparatively  worth- 
less residuum;  but  for  what  it  enables 
one  to  give. 

Nor  does  love,  when  it  has  been  puri- 
fied from  grosser  elements,  attach  itself 
merely  to  the  present  form.  The  fond 
mother  may  indeed  sometimes  say  that 
she  wishes  her  child  might  never  grow 
120 


LOVE 

up,  but  always  remain  dependent  on  her 
care.  But  she  knows  that  is  not  true  love 
but  only  selfishness.  The  mother  fol- 
lows her  child  through  all  the  growing 
years,  rejoicingin  his  increasing  strength. 
And  when  the  hour  of  parting  comes 
and  the  son  goes  forth  to  try  his  fortunes 
in  the  world,  the  mother  love  grows 
stronger.  It  is  a  power  which  overcomes 
the  influence  of  change.  And  as  it  is  said 
of  love  that  it  "  seeketh  not  its  own,"  so 
it  is  said  that  it  "taketh  not  account  of 
evil."  This  does  not  mean  that  it  denies 
the  existence  of  evil.  Evil  is  treated  as 
irrelevant.  Love  taketh  no  account  of 
evil,  not  because  it  does  not  see  it  but 
because  it  sees  through  it.  Sin,  sorrow, 
suffering  —  these  are  facts  which  are 
opaque  to  the  cold  understanding.  But 
there  are  other  rays  that  shine  through 
121 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

them,  finding  no  obstruction.  Love  sees 
the  perfect  through  the  imperfect;  it 
discerns  "  the  soul  of  goodness  in  things 
evil." 

This  clairvoyance  is  manifest  in  all 
finer  judgments.  There  is  a  selective 
power  which  unerringly  finds  excel- 
lence. Two  persons  are  looking  at  a 
picture.  One  looks  at  it  unimaginatively 
and  unappreciatively.  He  sees  that  the 
canvas  is  old,  the  colors  are  faded, 
there  are  obvious  defects  of  drawing. 
Seeing  these  things  he  passes  the  pic- 
ture with  contempt.  He  can  justify  his 
scorn  by  a  catalogue  of  the  details 
which  offend  him.  But  after  the  fault- 
finder there  comes  an  enthusiastic  lover 
of  art.  Does  he  not  see  the  defects? 
Yes;  but  he  takes  no  account  of  them. 
They  do  not  interfere  with  his  enjoy- 

122 


LOVE 

ment.  The  picture  represents  an  im- 
portant stage  in  the  development  of  art, 
It  is  from  the  hand  of  a  master.  The 
master  shared  with  his  contemporaries 
many  faults,  and  he  had  mannerisms  of 
his  own.  But  his  genius  shines  through. 

When  true  artists  are  talking  together 
how  joyous  and  free  they  are!  It  is  be- 
cause each  is  conscious  of  something 
beyond  what  he  himself  has  accom- 
plished. There  are  so  many  different 
forms  of  beauty,  and  varying  degrees 
of  excellence.  They  are  not  seeking 
uniformity.  They  are  exploring  a  pleas- 
ant region  where  each  turn  of  the  road 
has  a  charm  of  its  own. 

The  lover  of  Nature  has  the  same  ex- 
perience. What  he  delights  in  is  not 
the  perfection  of  a  single  form,  but  the 
wonder  of  an  endless  process.  He  is 

123 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

pleased  with  the  exuberance  of  life. 
There  are  many  things  which  interfere 
with  his  comfort;  and  he  is  glad  that 
it  is  so.  There  are  weeds  and  thorns, 
there  are  thickets  hard  to  penetrate, 
there  are  wild  things  that  hide  them- 
selves at  his  approach.  But  these  things 
do  not  irritate  him.  He  is  soothed  and 
inspired  by'the  manifold  life  around  him, 
and  of  which  he  is  a  part. 

The  same  thing  is  true  in  regard  to 
human  intercourse.  The  philanthropist 
and  the  misanthropist  have  before  them 
precisely  the  same  facts.  One  may  be 
as  realistic  as  the  other.  But  their  minds 
react  differently.  Human  nature  in  its 
actual  imperfectness  is  the  theme  of  all 
realistic  literature. 

The  unloving  realist  declares  that  he 
will  rid  his  mind  of  all  sentimentality 
124 


LOVE 

and  show  us  human  character  as  it  actu- 
ally is.  With  painstaking  art  he  repro- 
duces an  actual  situation.  He  lays  bare 
the  working  of  the  mind,  and  points  out 
the  unworthy  motives  which  enter  into 
acts  which  we  had  been  taught  to  ad- 
mire. He  analyzes  the  conventional 
hero  and  reveals  the  sordid  elements  in 
his  nature.  He  reveals  every  weakness 
which  mars  his  best  endeavor.  Then 
with  cold  impartiality  he  passes  judg- 
ment on  the  sum  total  of  the  qualities 
which  he  has  discovered.  It  is  a  piti- 
able showing. 

Then  we  turn  to  the  really  great 
works  of  literature.  The  man  of  genius 
— just  because  he  has  genius — is  one 
who  not  only  sees  clearly,  but  loves  the 
thing  he  sees.  He  makes  no  attempt  to 
disguise  the  imperfection  which  be- 
I2S 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

longs  to  all  that  is  human.  He  is  no 
apologist  for  things  as  they  are.  This 
is  a  world  in  which  men  sin  and  suf- 
fer for  their  sins.  He  does  not  give 
us  an  expurgated  edition  of  the  uni- 
verse. There  are  ugly  facts  and  un- 
tamed passions  and  unanswered  ques- 
tions. The  real  world  is  so  big  that  it 
is  easy  to  lose  one's  way  in  it.  The 
wisest  lose  their  way  often  and  only  by 
much  effort  find  it  again.  Human  nature 
is  complex  and  character  is  not  adjusted 
to  circumstance  with  mechanical  pre- 
cision. The  actual  course  of  human  con- 
duct is  never  as  straight  as  it  appears  in 
the  moral  tale.  There  are  many  devious 
windings  and  strange  surprises.  There 
is  a  seamy  side  even  to  the  lives  of 
saints,  and  great  men  do  not  always 
retain  the  heroic  attitude. 
126 


LOVE 

But  all  this  is  of  little  importance  to 
the  lover  of  mankind.  His  heart  was  not 
set  ona,monotony  of  excellence.  He  is 
free  and  cheerful  in  the  presence  of 
human  imperfection.  He  is  with  eager 
eyes  watching  a  vital  process.  He  does 
not  see  perfect  creatures,  but  he  sees 
something  which  to  him  is  much  more 
appealing.  He  sees  imperfect  creatures 
striving  for  a  more  perfect  form  of  ex- 
istence. He  sees  them  under  all  varieties 
of  circumstance  tending  upward.  Their 
very  mistakes  and  failures  make  them 
dear  to  him.  He  rejoices  in  their  small 
successes.  He  sees  those  whose  lives 
havebeenmost  disappointing  in  moments 
of  heroism.  These  sudden  flashes  reveal 
their  real  selves.  He  sees  how  men  learn 
from  their  mistakes.  They  are  always 
blundering,  but  the  same  blunders  are 
127 


THREE  LORDS  OF  DESTINY 

not  precisely  repeated.  He  comes  to 
feel  that  the  obstacles  in  the  path  of  hu- 
manity are  great  but  not  insuperable. 

O  benefit  of  ill,  now  I  find  true 
That  better  is  by  evil  still  made  better 
And  ruined  love  when  it  is  built  anew 
Grows  fairer  than  at  first,   more   strong,  far 
greater. 

This  doctrine  of  "the  benefit  of  ill"  is  not 
the  fatalistic  doctrine  that  evil  of  itself 
works  for  good.  It  is  rather  the  belief 
in  the  supremacy  of  love,  the  power  that 
turns  all  things  to  its  own  uses.  Out  of 
old  ruins  it  is  continually  building  new 
and  fairer  habitations  for  itself. 

We  have  tried  to  show  that  liberty  is 
not  a  gift  of  Nature.  It  is  an  achieve- 
ment. A  man  is  free  in  proportion  to 
his  Courage,  Skill,  and  Love,  These  are 
the  Lords  of  Destiny. 
128 


LOVE 

To  choose  one's  own  path  and  to  abide 
by  the  decision,  to  follow  an  inner  light, 
to  resist  the  world's  threat  and  fashion 
— this  is  to  gain  independence.  It  is  the 
achievement  of  simple  courage. 

To  study  and  observe,  to  make  use  of 
the  accumulated  experience  of  mankind, 
to  become  inventive  and  skillful  in  all 
good  works,  this  is  to  gain  mastery 
over  natural  forces. 

To  give  one's  self  to  others,  to  rejoice 
in  the  good  that  one  does  not  seek  to 
monopolize,  to  follow  life  lovingly 
through  all  its  bewildering  changes,  to 
rejoice  in  all  its  variety  and  richness  — 
this  is  to  be  free  indeed.  It  is  through 
love  to  "lay  hold  on  eternal  life." 

THE   END 


ttitoetftie 

CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .  S   .  A 


\ 


YB  22794 


